Everything Changes
by iwrite4fun
Summary: AU between season 8&9 with whole group. Earth is attacked and there is no way defend it. Everyone evacuates to the Beta site...SamJack even if Pete is around for a while. Lots of good SJ moments, and a little humor thrown in for the heck of it.
1. The News that Changes it All

Spoilers: Fair game for anything up through season 8 (and the characters from season 9).

Pairings: Sam/Jack

Disclaimer: They aren't mine. Never will be. Just using them for a bit of fun. All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Note: This is an AU story beginning somewhere between season 8/9, during a particular day in which there is some transition taking place within the SGC. Jack, Hank Landry, Sam, Cam, and Daniel are all at the SGC for this particular day in time as leadership is about to change hands. Jacob Carter is dead but Sam hasn't broken up with Pete yet, nor has SG-1 made the trip to Jack's cabin. Also, Moebius doesn't occurr, so they have no working ZPM. This is something I've been thinking about since reading other people's fanfics for a while now and since this is my AU I can put anyone I want into it, so now onto the story.

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It had finally happened. They had lost. Earth as they knew it was no more. For this first time in a long time he was actually worried that they may not make it through the current crisis.

//Flashback//

The gate room was crowded. All the teams were present for this 'changing of the guard' moment. SG-1, minus Teal'c, were standing at the bottom of the ramp, accompanied by Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, the newest addition to the SGC.

All he had managed to say was "I promise to keep this short" to begin his last speech as the commander of the SGC when the cell phone of one very embarrassed Lt. Colonel Paul Davis sounded. And in his typical sarcastic manner, all he had to say was "At least I didn't get beamed away this time" to which there was resounding laughter as everyone remembered or had heard about that incident.

Unfortunately he never did finish that speech as Walter Harriman approached the podium and quickly whispered something into his ear, to which he gave a whispered response back. Walter nodded and quickly left the room, almost at a dead run.

Never one for the dramatics, General O'Neill quickly glanced around the room, let his glance linger just a few seconds longer on his former teammates, letting them know that he would need their help with this. And then he dropped the metaphorical bomb on his audience.

"I have just been informed that a mothership has been spotted in orbit. All attempted contact has been ignored and the flight of X-302's that have been sent up were shot down. Without the use of a ZPM to defend us from the Antarctic site, we are starting evacuations to the Beta Site immediately." Instantly a murmur went through the audience and he knew that he needed to calm everyone down.

"Attention" he called, and every military person in the room automatically stood straighter. "Now I know that all of you are worried about your families, but please I need you to focus on your job-which right now is getting as many people as possible to safety. We are following the evacuation protocols, but obviously we are going to be taking way more people that what are listed on the evacuation lists. In 30 minutes the first group will be heading through the gate accompanied by SG-15. All teams will then continue through the gate accompanying groups of mostly civilians. Your job is to reassure them, get them away from the gate there, get them settled, and keep the calm. We need to keep everyone as calm as possible. Please do not tie up the phone lines attempting to contact your family members. Someone is currently contacting your families and instructing them to quietly collect their belongings and other family members and bring them here. I don't know what cover story they are being given, but they are coming. Please, don't worry about them. We have a deadline of 10 hours. Pack up, gear up, and see your team leader for specific instructions. Team leaders meeting in the briefing room in 20 minutes. Dismissed."

And with that the gate room quickly cleared of everyone except SG-1, Davis, Landry, O'Neill and Mitchell.

"Baal gave the president a 12 hour deadline. We're planning worst case scenario here. The Daedalus is still sitting in dry dock, not ready to go yet-weapons are inoperable but shields and beaming technology is working. The Prometheus is gone, it was blown out of the sky within minutes of the arrival of the mothership. Luckily all of the crew were able to beam out in time. The Daedalus is going to take off an hour before that deadline is reached, and will remain in orbit long enough to beam out as many of the people currently in the Pentagon and White House as possible. They will then meet us at the Beta site, if everything goes as planned."

"What about everyone else, those who can't get away? What about them?" Daniel protested.

"Baal is promising bombardment from orbit; the best option we have is to get as many people to safety as possible. The President just doesn't see a way out of this one guys. So if anyone has bright ideas they care to pull out of their….heads, now would be the time."

The long pause that followed was all that he needed to know.

"So no ideas, huh."

"Well sir, nothing that we haven't previously thought of. Contact Thor or the rebel Jaffa, but even then, I think they'll be too late. I have to think evacuation would be the best choice, General. It's not like we have any 'big honkin' space guns' just sitting around" replied a slightly smiling Carter.

"Then let's get to work. Follow the SOP and let's make sure that everyone that we possibly can get out of here does. Hank, if you'll take care of sorting out the arriving civilians from those who were listed on the pre-determined Beta site list up top, I'd appreciate it. Take Mitchell with you. Daniel and Carter pack up whatever you think is necessary; convey that message to your staff also. I have a phone call to make to General Kerrigan about getting as many of the Academy students over here as possible. So be prepared for those arrivals also. Let's move" he ordered.

As everyone but him and Carter quickly left the gate room, Carter turned to him and raised the most important question on her mind "Sir, what about Cassie? She needs to get here" questioned Carter.

"Already taken care of. She's on here way here, she was part of the original Beta site list. I'll have her check in with you before she ships out. I've been authorized to contact the Chief of Police here in Colorado Springs and get him to send over a detachment of officers to help control things" saying this as he look her in the eyes. "Anyone who has clearance to know about the Stargate is at the top of the list to be contacted and should already be on there way here as the evacuation takes place."

//End Flashback//

"General, are you going to address the civilians? They're starting to get a little concerned about what is going to happen to them and what is going on" claimed a slightly distressed Walter.

"I'll be right there" he said as he gave one more glance to the Stargate and turned to face the problems that came with being on an alien planet with civilians who 24 hours ago had not know about the existence of aliens, let alone the ability to travel to other planets. And with that in mind, he went off in search of Daniel and Carter, the two people, besides himself, most capable of explaining and calming the new Beta site colonists.

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Please review, also I'm looking for someone to beta my stuff. If you're interested, let me know.


	2. The People who will never understand

Together they approached the makeshift stage. The three of them were bone tired, exhausted, and in need of a good meal. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten. Counting back she realized that it had to of been before the General's announcement. A glance at her watch made her realize that his interrupted speech had been almost 24 hours before. 'So much has changed since then.'

General O'Neill approached center stage as the crowd quieted, waiting to see what this impressive looking man had to tell them. We took up positions on either side of him. Although I recognized a few of the people in the crowd as family members of various SGC personnel or one or two faces that were co-workers of Pete, the majority of the people were unfamiliar-which means that they were really worried. These people had no idea what was going on. Someone had just ripped them from their homes and sent them through a puddle of water on a wild roller coaster ride to another planet. Once there they had been given tents and cots to setup for their quarters.

The General began speaking by thanking everyone for their calm approach to the problem. He went on to briefly explain what had happened on Earth (aliens had attacked and were attempting to destroy Earth) and then turned it over to Daniel to give a short explanation of the history of the Stargate. Being the General, he emphasized the word _short_ to Daniel and then stepped back to let one of his two best friends take over.

She just looked out over the crowd, tuning Daniel out-after all she had heard it all multiple times before and just examined the crowd. The number of people out there who looked down right terrified was small in comparison with the huge number of military wives who, although had to be frightened underneath, hid most of their emotion behind the looks of determination on their faces. Finally, I found the one group of people I was looking for in the audience, Cassie, Mark, his wife, my niece, and my nephew. For the first time I realized that something good had come out of my father's death. 'Thank goodness they were in town for dad's memorial service. I'm sure they don't realize it, but dad's death just saved all of their lives'.

//Flashback//

General O'Neill's office

"Sir, I have a favor to ask" and all he does is look at her, with those eyes and a face full of tension and worry. It's like they both know that this is the end of everything they know.

"Carter, I'm sure that after knowing each other for eight years now, I owe you at least one favor if not several for pulling my butt out of the fire several times. If I can do it, I will".

"Sir, my brother and his family are in town, but I'm sure they weren't on the Beta site list…" was all she had to say.

"Call them, tell them to get here, they're on the list now" was the only reply that he could give.

As she turned to leave he called after her "Carter, just so you know, that one doesn't count."

"Sir?"

"Carter, Dad would come back to haunt me if I hadn't…and Selmac would've tortured me for the rest of my life. She probably could make Baal's ideas of punishment look pleasant."

A small smile lit up her face, even if didn't quite reach her eyes. But it didn't matter to him, he had made her forget everything for just a few seconds.

Later, when an Airman escorted Mark to her lab where Cassie was already helping her gather as much as she possibly could, Mark was not very happy. It didn't help either that Pete was already there trying to 'help' his fiancé. She didn't need his help and Mark's demand for an immediate explanation didn't go over very well either. Then, when General O'Neill came in and demanded her attention-NOW-things really got out of hand.

Without even looking up from the piece of paper in his hands, General O'Neill, who was already 'knitted out' in the full combat uniform including two P-90's and had a second set of gear for Carter in hand, asked in his little boy voice "Are you done yet?" And then he realized just how crowded his favorite scientist's lab was.

Cassie was packing several of her 'doohickeys' as he had named them, into their respective cases. Pete was perched on a stool, trying to fit some of the various 'virtual indestructible' equipment on the counter of the lab into a box [he knew it had to be virtual indestructible because she left it out for him to play with when he visited-and she was too smart to leave anything that was expensive or destructible. And Mark, Mark was standing over his sister who was sitting on the floor surrounded by books as she attempted to sort out which ones could be considered vital to the survival of Earth's people-and if looks could kill-General O'Neill would have been dead already.

But unfortunately for Mark, General O'Neill was on the receiving end of those looks from much more terrifying people on a daily basis, so he just glanced passed the look to Carter who he could tell was just about to her breaking point. So he asked "Is there anything special that you have to do with those or can anyone pack them up?" Her expression was all he needed to know that she preferred to do the task herself, but…he was the one in charge.

"In that case Carter, I am _ordering_ you to put those books down, change clothes, and gear up. There are only 3 groups left to go through the gate. Landrey and Mitchell are already there. We" he said as he looked at all of the individuals in the room "will finish packing those books in the boxes and make sure that one of the SF delivers all of your equipment to the gate room to ship out with the next group which includes all of the cadets" he claimed looking pointedly at Cassie "and the rest of the civilians" he reminded the remaining occupants of her lab.

Cassie took that as her cue to leave and after a quick hug for both Jack and Sam, she left the room, moving towards the gate room as the intercom announced that in 25 minutes all remaining non-essential Air Force Personnel were embarking.

She followed Cassie out the door, carrying the gear that he had brought for her, heading for the closest bathroom. He set down the two P-90's he had, after checking to make sure the safety was on and that they were not loaded, and proceeded to pick up all of Carter's books and place them into the only empty box left in the room. Quickly the other two men followed suit.

Only after the box was packed and Jack was again strapping his P-90 on, did Pete feel confident enough to ask the General a question "What about Sam?"

"Well, what about her?" asked Jack.

"Well, when is she leaving? Shouldn't she be coming with me?" questioned Pete.

Unfortunately for Pete, Sam chose that moment to return to the room. Obviously having overheard the comment from Pete, she instead just grabbed the P-90 from the General and strapped it to her body. Pete and Mark just looked at her in shock-not only did she have a large gun, but a vest filled with who know what, a radio, a small hand gun, and a Zat.

"Do you have everything Carter?" Jack asked.

"I would hope so" said Pete "did you forget a grenade or something by chance?"

A flash of amusement crossed the General's face as she turned to face Pete and calmly stated "this isn't all of my normal equipment, I still have to pick up my pack from the locker room, and I have to stop by the armory to pick-up a grenade or two along with some C-4."

"And spare ammunition, Carter, you can never have too many bullets" reminded the General with a slight grin on his face.

"Yes sir, I'm sure that right before we both leave, _together_, we'll have to stop by and pick up the last of our supplies" claimed Sam.

"So you're coming with us then?" questioned Mark.

Before the General could even respond, Sam answered for him "No. We'll" indicating herself and the General "both be part of the last group to depart. There are things that we both have to take car of-stuff that only we can do. We'll be the last ones off the base."

While Mark accepted this explanation, Pete as a little more demanding, he began questioning her, "Why do you have to stay, can't someone else do it?"

"No Pete, this is my job-this is what I do-this is what I'm going to continue doing. If you've got a problem with it, let me know, otherwise aren't you supposed to be in the gate room right now?" And with that Lt. Col. Samantha Carter stalked from the room, followed closely by one slightly smirking General Jack O'Neill.

//End Flashback//

And as glad as she was that they were there with her, she knew that what they were about to find out was not going to make things easy on their already stretched relationship, especially when Mark found out that Dad and Pete had known.

Together the three of them starred down the crowd after Daniel finished talking and people sat there in silence, waiting for someone to ask a question. What followed weren't questions but an interruption by Walter.

"Umm sir" he began "you and SG-1 are needed in the gate room, there have been some problems".

And with that the three of accompanied by Walter, left to go to the gate room and leaving behind a few SF's and come cadets, all in all, it resulted in very few people with any real knowledge of the Stargate program to answer any questions that an extremely worried audience might have. General Jack O'Neill would later come to regret having to go to the gate room.

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Please review! I have one person offering to beta, but I'd like a second. Thanks for all the review so far. If you have any questions, make sure to let me know and I'll try to clear them up for you. Suggestions for how the story should go or if you want me to include any of your favorite lines, let me know and I'll try to work those in as well.

P.S. For anyone who is wondering, Teal'c isn't dead, he just happened to be off with the Jaffa at this point. He'll be making a visit to the story soon.


	3. An Old Friend Returns

Together the three of them arrived in the gate room where the defense teams were present, but were obviously on stand down. There speaking with Paul Davis was Teal'c.

Although Teal'c was speaking with Davis, the three of them had no problems with interrupting the conversation to greet their closest friend. A round of hugs for all of them, and General O'Neill escorted everyone to his office (yes he actually knew where it was, even if he kept 'accidentally' ripping down the tape that labeled the office as his).

Closing the door firmly behind them, and waiting until everyone was seated, and then he addressed Teal'c, "So Davis explained what happened, right?"

"Indeed" came the standard reply from Teal'c.

"Any confusion, any questions we can answer for you-you know just to satisfy your own curiosity…" asked Jack.

"That will not be necessary O'Neill" answered Teal'c "I believe that I have been sufficiently informed".

"If you don't have a question Teal'c, I do" said Daniel. "How are we keeping people from going through the Stargate to Earth?"

"We placed a locator beacon on the Stargate before we went through it. The Daedalus was supposed to beam it on board after takeoff. The dialing computer, well, pretty much every computer system at the SGC was supposed to complete a self-erasing procedure after we sent a signal back through the gate upon our arrival here" explained Carter.

"So there's no chance of anyone getting to Earth via anyway but by ship?" questioned O'Neill.

"Yes, sir, if everything went according to plan, that is." Replied Carter.

"Then, I guess our only problem right now is what we're going to do about all these people. Most of them are civilians who are probably scared out of their minds right now. We have a limited number of supplies and more people than we originally planned on. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, just stating a fact here. On top of that, the Daedalus is about 4 hours overdue, which makes me slightly concerned" stated Jack.

"So what you're saying is despite the fact that we haven't been captured by a System Lord, tortured, etc., and we didn't save Earth from total destruction, we still are responsible for coming up with solutions to a whole new slew of problems" offered Daniel.

"Yeah, it's kind of a refreshing change isn't it?" said a very sarcastic General O'Neill.

An interruption from Colonel Mitchell ended their rather short reunion as he informed them that General Landry was requesting their presence in the conference room.

The meeting that followed was anything but short. In fact, it went into the wee hours of the morning (according to the standard issue SGC watches) but they did manage to accomplish quite a bit. Splitting up responsibilities between the two Generals, getting initial status reports from everyone, and deciding what part all the new civilians would play in their new world was just the beginning of what the group tackled.

Thankfully, the Beta site was well prepared for human inhabitants, although not of this number. Fully equipped with bathroom facilities, running water (purified from a recently setup dam and powered by a naquadah reactor), the hanger even boasted a full squadron of X-302's, but most important to the survival of the entire group was the soon to be constructed green houses. With the green house construction co-headed by Colonel Dixon and Mitchell, the group broke for the evening and headed off to their quarters to catch as much sleep as possible before the next crisis broke out.

Despite being in what they considered to be a 'friendly' combat zone, it was an unspoken agreement that the four of them would be sharing the same quarters. After showering the four of them crawled into (separate) beds and quickly fell asleep knowing that tomorrow would bring its own set of challenges.


	4. The First Problem

After two weeks, things were starting to turn into a routine for the former members of SG-1. The Daedalus still had yet to arrive which left Generals O'Neill and Landry jointly in charge of running 'New Earth' as they had taken to calling the Beta site.

Together the current and former members of SG-1 would retreat to their shared quarters at whatever hour they finished whatever project they were working on. They started the next day whenever someone (usually Walter, as he was the only one brave enough to suffer the wrath of the sleep deprived members of SG-1) would knock on the door and announce that some emergency required their immediate attention.

Some days those emergencies were really emergencies-like the day one of the lab techs accidentally shut down the naquadah generator which powered some of the defenses. Other days, the emergencies were really just someone wanting a little attention, like the day that several of the civilians demanded to know what was going to happen to them.

Those that came said they were just doing what they felt was in the best interest of the 'non-military' personnel. They demanded to know what the plans were for the civilians under the "current military leadership" as Matthew Smith, the leader of the group put it.

This statement just ticked off an already sleep deprived, moody General Jack O'Neill who had been dragged out of bed after only three hours of sleep to attend this impromptu meeting. Noticeably absent was Landry who was off with the construction crew as he had taken over commanding the majority of the setup procedures while leaving Jack in charge of the military base. Unfortunately for Jack, this meant that he got to deal with any crisis that popped up as he was the one usually on base while Landry had taken standard civilian quarters (which non-military personnel would call a tent with a sleeping bag) relatively close to several of the construction projects that were currently going on-including an new mess hall, bathroom facilities, a school, and the green houses which were the only building that was almost complete.

So there SG-1 sat and just looked at a man who obviously had a great distaste for the military.

General O'Neill was the first to glorify his unasked question with an answer. "Well, to start with, we're in the middle of several major construction projects. We finally have tabulated a list of personnel here and what skills they have. Within the next week we're planning to assign all civilians some sort of job, depending on what skills they possess."

At that point Smith interrupted, "What happens if they don't like the job they are assigned?"

"They can request a transfer to another job but that doesn't mean it will be granted. We have to put people where their skills are best suited to help everyone" claimed a diplomatic Jack.

"But we aren't military. You can't order us anywhere to do anything. We still have free choice," objected Smith again.

"You're right! I can't order you to do a job," conceded the General "But I can make it a don't-work, don't-eat policy."

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me!" Came the instant reply from the hard faced General. "We're also working on re-arranging sleeping quarters to make better use of the space. Get families into appropriately sized quarters, single men bunking with other single men, and the same goes for women."

"What about personnel who are engaged or in a relationship but not married?" questioned Smith.

"That is decided on a case by case basis. There is a computer program which we're currently using to optimize our space. When everyone filled out their personnel information, everyone also filled in rooming information. The program is optimized to make the best use of space," explained Carter.

"Yet, I bet each of you have your own quarters and are sleeping in nice comfy beds aren't you?" retorted the still difficult Smith.

"Oh, yes those military beds have the most comfortable mattresses, don't they Carter?" asked the General.

"Yes sir, they do," answered a slightly bewildered Carter.

"But the squeezing four beds into a room made for one officer kind of cuts back on that luxury a little bit I guess," was the additional sarcastic comment made by the General. "Add that to the fact that none of us have slept more than 4 or 5 hours a night since we arrived here and you can bet that we are living in luxury in comparison to the civilians. If you have nothing pertinent to ask us, this meeting is over. We all have better uses of our time."

"Just one more thing General, I have a favor to ask. I have a message from my partner, well former partner I guess that he would like to pass along to his fiancé. Something about not being able to reach her for the past two weeks, he was just wondering if she still intended to marry him. Something about a scheduled wedding date for three days ago, and she did even have the guts to tell him that she wasn't going to be able to make it," requested an obviously angry Smith.

"I don't understand how she could blow him off like that," he continued ranting as he passed an envelope over to the General.

The General took one look at the name on the envelope and his eyes narrowed before he looked back at Smith and promised "I'll see that she gets this". A glance at Carter told her that he needed to see her after the meeting was over.

After everyone had left the conference room, he unceremoniously handed the envelope over to Carter, which she could now see boasted her name on the front. With that he departed from the conference room leaving her to read the letter all by herself.


	5. What Pete Thinks

She just starred at the letter in her hands and attempted to remember the last time she had thought about Pete-and she realized that she couldn't remember when that was. She had even gotten so caught up in her work that she hadn't even remembered the date of her own wedding. If nothing else that told her that maybe she wasn't as ready to commit to this relationship as she thought. With that she opened the letter, unprepared for what Pete had written.

_Dear Sam,_

_I guess you're really busy because you forgot the date of our wedding! A "Sorry I'm not going to be able to make it would have been nice" but I guess you were just too busy with work! But being the wonderful guy that I am and knowing how important your job is to you, I'll forgive you just this once-after all I love you and you love me and that's what people do when they love each other. I want you to marry me as soon as possible-no big ceremony, just me, you, a preacher, and a couple of my friends from the new security detail as witnesses and we can start our new life together._

_I know that we agreed that you wouldn't give up your job back on Earth, but things have changed now. We're on a different world-its time for a fresh starts. _

_I want you to get that General of yours to give you reasonable hours so that you and I can at least see each other every night when we go to bed. Do you know if the military makes bigger beds because we are so going to need one! With your status we should be able to get decent living quarters, shouldn't we?_

_Eventually you can give up your military duties, and just do the civilian stuff like me. I'm helping out with perimeter security. I'm sure you could find a job working to maintain the conditions in the greenhouse or something-especially with all your connections. I heard that General Landry knew your father-that should make it a lot easier for you. Just drop his name and everything should be fine. When I told him that I knew you, he let me have my own team of guys._

_Until we get things changed around, I want to move in with you. After all, being a high ranking military officer means that you get your own quarters, so you should have plenty of room for me!_

_I just want to see you. I'll meet you in the mess for supper tonight at 6 o'clock please be there-I've missed you._

_See you then,_

_Love Always,_

_Pete_

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Still starring at that letter was how Doctor Daniel Jackson found her 20 minutes later.

"Sam", he called attempting to get her attention, "I really need your help with getting the computers in my lab hook-" and one glance at her was all he needed to know that something was wrong. Her eyes which already had dark bags under them from lack of sleep were now red and puffy from crying. And not only that, she was shaking. Lt. Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter was crying so hard that she was shaking. In the whole time that he had know her, Daniel could never remember seeing her cry this hard.

He did the only thing that he could do for her at that point. He reached down and pulled her out of the chair she was currently occupying to a standing position and into his arms. And he just held her there letting her know that he was there, supporting her in the only way he possibly could.

Once she had quit shaking so bad, he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her out of the room and to their shared quarters. Once there he sat her down on the bed pulled the boots off of her feet, forced her to lay down, tucked her into bed, and waited until she was asleep before he left her there to sleep. Then, he went to find Jack.

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Please note, I really don't hate Pete, I actually think he's a good guy, but for this story, I aimed for him to come off as a possessive, slightly dislikable guy who sounds nice at first but could easily have a bad side to him. If you have any hints for how to make him sound more like that kind of guy let me know, because a confrontation is coming soon...


	6. What Daniel has to say

Thanks for all those great reviews so far, especially the last chapter. Keep reviewing and I'll keep the story coming. Feel free to offer suggestions (any and all are accepted-I'll make use of the ones that fit into the story) especially of how the confrontation between Pete and Sam should go down, because it's coming soon...and with that, here is the story...

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For the first time in a long time, Daniel Jackson knocked on Jack's door and waited for him to call "Enter", before entering his new office.

'Although not nearly as well furnished as his office on Earth' Daniel thought, 'Jack seems to like this office better.' With that thought Daniel Jackson stepped into Jack O'Neill's office and closed the door behind him, looked around to make sure that no one else was in the room and said, "Jack, we need to talk".

"Talk? Isn't that what we've been doing the past two weeks?"

"No, talk, talk. In other words I'll talk and you'll listen".

"So talk".

"It's about Sam. Have you noticed how tired she's been lately? She's been working herself into the ground trying to get everything working on this base. I think that she's probably slept the least of anyone here", began Daniel.

"So she pulls those all-nighters all of the time" responded Jack.

"Have you looked at her recently though Jack? And I don't mean look at her, like you see her everyday but look at her. Have you look in her eyes and see how sad and upset she is?" continued Daniel.

"Can't say I have-I've been busy, you've been busy, heck everyone has been busy. I just figured if she was having a problem she would come talk to me about it" answered Jack.

"When has Sam ever done that? She's just like you-you hide your emotions from everyone to the point that I think you hide them from yourself most of the time. Her father died not even a week before we had to do a mass evacuation from Earth-during which she was pretty much your right hand man-and she had to bury her emotions and get down to business. She gets here and throws herself into her work again-although she really didn't have much of a choice because the survivors from Earth _needed_ her to do her job. And we all got caught up in our work that we forgot to ask her how she was doing, how she was dealing with the death of father, and then refuse to accept her response of 'fine' because we both know that she is anything but fine" ranted Daniel.

"Okay, I'll admit I haven't been a very good CO to Carter, but like you said we've all been busy" admitted Jack.

"Jack, this isn't about being a good CO, this is about being Sam's friend and right now she needs a friend. I found her in the conference room this afternoon exhausted and crying her eyes out, clutching the same letter that you were handed by Matthew Smith this morning which I'm guessing was from Pete. She's in our quarters now, sleeping soundly. She didn't even say a word to me when I got her to lie down and go to sleep-after she quit crying of course. She even cried herself to sleep-and when have you ever known her to do that? I guess what I'm trying to say, is I'm worried about her. And to make everything worse, Teal'c is gone and I'm headed off to Cimmeria to try and make contact with Thor. She needs her friends around her right now. My question to you is what are you going to do about it" said Daniel.

"It's not my place to do anything about Pete. She's made her choice and found someone who makes her happy. I'm not going to come between them by doing anything Daniel. I want her to be happy, even if it isn't with me. I promised her that I would always be there for her Daniel, if she marries Pete, nothing about that will change. I'll always be her friend", responded Jack.

Daniel just shook his head at Jack and said, "I just hope Jack that you don't ever regret not saying something because I know that is the one thing that I regret more than anything else in my life."

With that Doctor Daniel Jackson walked out the door of General Jack O'Neill's office, leaving them both alone to their thoughts.

And for Jack O'Neill, it was a very long time before he thought about anything else but what Daniel has told him.


	7. The Mess Hall Discussion or lack of

It was several hours later when General Jack O'Neill finally found time 'more like got up the nerve' he thought, to go check on his favorite 2IC, despite having no idea what he was going to 'talk' to her about.

First, he checked their quarters, although he admitted to himself 'that's probably the last place she'd be'. Then, he looked into her new lab, but it was totally dark and silent 'okay, not there, so where could she possibly be?' he wondered. After checking the locker room, Daniel's lab, and the gym, he finally gave up and went in search of food to soothe his grumbling stomach.

And there she was, sitting with Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, having what appeared to be a very animated discussion. 'Huh, interesting, I didn't even know that they knew each other' he thought to himself.

He proceeded to get himself a tray of food, or whatever the Beta site mess called food-and wander his way over to the table that the two Colonels were currently occupying. Rather than just sitting down, he questioned "Got an open spot for an old General there?"

Carter just looked at him, a small smile forming on her face as she replied, "I think that chair is open for an experienced, well-respected General, Sir. After all sir, you're not old, distinguished looking, but never old".

"Well some days I feel old Carter-and I think today is one of those days" replied a tired sounding General O'Neill.

"What did Felger blow up this time, sir?" questioned Carter.

"Hold on, blow up _this time_ what has this guy blown up before-and even more importantly, how does he still have a job if he continuously blows things up?" asked Mitchell.

"Well there was that time with the whole gate-virus thing that almost got us killed, the time he brought in the thing that counteracted with that doohickey you had spent a week taking apart and had finally figured out how it worked. Oh yeah, then there was that time he was supposed to be monitoring one of your experiments for you and instead he broke the thing it was being stored in. I think that's about it." Answered General O'Neill.

"Actually sir, you forgot about the time that he ran into my lab right in the middle of my recalibration of the naquadah generator and just about blew up the base" she reminded him with a hint of the usual glimmer beginning to form in her eyes.

"Oh yes, can't forgot the only incident in which he _actually_ did almost blow up the base. But no, today he insisted on having a conversation with me about why he had to share a lab with several of the other scientists-who are currently working on the same project as him, might I add-which means that it makes sense for them to share a lab. So I told him that there were no extra labs available right now and he would just have to make due with what he had, after all no one is really happy about the current situation and until some of the buildings are finished and we get some of the rooms which are currently being used as quarters for base personnel cleared out, there is going to be some over crowding in the lab and office areas. Not to say that the construction crews aren't working fast enough," he was quick to add as he saw the protest that Mitchell was about to raise. "In fact, you guys are even ahead of schedule-something I'm very happy to hear."

"Thank you sir, I'll make sure to pass along you praise to the rest of the crew" responded a grateful Mitchell.

"I'd appreciate it Mitchell. What about you Carter, what's been going on with you?" questioned the General.

"Well sir, I setup the computers in Daniel's lab today after he left, hooked up another naquadah generator out by the construction area to power the electric stuff that is currently being installed in the first building, and then listened to Dr. Lee pitch his latest idea for improving the naquadah generator for almost an hour before finally cutting him off and telling him that I'd already considered it and it wouldn't work due to the fact that we don't have a metallic element which could withstand the movement of the current across the coil and into the-" offered up Carter, before being cut off by General O'Neill.

"No stop now-no techno babble, Carter. I trust you, you know what you're doing. If you say that it can't be done than it can't," quickly interrupted General O'Neill before allowing Carter to get into her element.

"Thank you General, I hope that I can live up the trust that you place in me, sir" answered a quite embarrassed Colonel Carter.

But before General O'Neill could continue, Colonel Mitchell took the opportunity to excuse himself from the conversation, figuring that what Sam had discussed with him was now a finished conversation, and would not be continued in front of the General. "Well, unfortunately for me, I have to get back to work-those building don't build themselves. Sam, you know where I am if you need me, I'll see you later. General, we'll have a progress report to deliver to you later tomorrow. Hopefully next week the first building will be ready to have things moved into it."

Sam just looked him into his eyes and gave him a small smiling before saying "Thank you Cam" and allowed him to her shoulder a small squeeze as he left the mess to General O'Neill's comment of "yes, yes back to work Mitchell", as the General wondered what Carter could possibly need from Mitchell.

And with that General Jack O'Neill and Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter were the sole occupants of a table in the mess-the first time that had happened since they had evacuated Earth.

General O'Neill took a few minutes to just enjoy the moment, after all, he had seen her every day since their arrival on the planet, but as Daniel had said, seeing her wasn't the same as studying her, seeing how she was really doing. He knew that he was the expert on claiming everything was okay, even when it wasn't and in this case, his careful observation of the Colonel who was sitting across from him told him that she was upset. _'She's just picking at her blue Jell-O, just moving it around with her silverware, something that she would never do on a normal day. Jell-O was her favorite food for crying out loud' _he thought to himself. And then he went ahead and asked the question that he already knew the answer to, "So Carter, how have you been?"

"Fine, sir," replied the unfazed Colonel Carter to the General's question.

"Really, you sure about that? Anything you wanna talk about with me, tell me about, so on and so forth, etc. etc…." again the General questioned.

"No sir, really I'm fine" responded an almost convincing Carter, and he would have believed her too, if he hadn't recognized the look in her eyes.

'_Pain. She's hurting and she won't tell me that she's hurting. Doesn't she know that I respect her too much to let an admission of pain make me think less of her? She's one of the most honest, trustworthy people that I know and she doesn't trust me enough to share whatever it is that's going on in her life right now, even after I promised that I would always be there for her. I guess its time for me to drag whatever it is that's really wrong out of her then-unfortunately she is either going to thank me for this later, or really hate me.'_

"All right Carter, if you say so. Are you done yet?" General O'Neill questioned.

"Yes sir, I think I'll get back to my lab. I'm sure there is stack of work requests a mile high and a line of scientist a mile long all waiting on me" offered Colonel Carter.

"Nope Carter, I'm kidnapping you" explained the General who allowed a hint of a smile to grace his face.

"Kidnapping me sir?" questioned the confused Colonel. "And what, hold me for the ransom price of every piece of cake on the Beta site?" She questioned with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Never Carter, just need some help with some paperwork and planning in my office," responded the General. "Besides, I figured I save my favorite scientist from the rest of the eggheads that are waiting for the return of the head egghead so that they can make demands on her time, preventing her from accomplishing her own tasks and making her feel really frustrated."

At this, Carter just smiled, got up from the table to take care of her trash and reported back to the table, standing (almost) at attention as she said "awaiting my own kidnapping sir, please proceed when ready" and then flashed him her 1000 megawatt smile as she waited for him to clean up his mess and escort her out of the mess hall and to his office.

----

Wow guys! Thanks for all the great reviews. Suggestions for how the confrontation between Sam and Jack should go in the next chapter are now being accepted along with a request for someone to beta read it!


	8. The beginning of a long talk

As they entered his office, General O'Neill was glad that they weren't at the SGC. Here, his office had no windows, just a door which he had just firmly shut and locked. There would be no chance of someone eavesdropping on the conversation he knew they were about to have. He had also informed Walter that he did not want to be disturbed under any circumstances, just in case.

He unceremoniously collapsed onto the couch in the room, and patted the cushion next to him and said, "Take a seat Carter."

"Sir?" she questioned.

"Just sit Carter, don't make me make it an order," he rubbed his hands through his hair.

"Yes sir," she said. They sat there together, in silence, for quite a while before she could take no more and just had to find out what was bothering him.

"Is there any specific reason we're sitting here, sir? Don't you have some paperwork to do? I know I have things to do, General, that are probably more important than whatever it is we're doing here," claimed a frustrated Sam Carter, who was now making a move to get up.

"Please, sit down," he asked in the soft tone that she'd only heard him use a few times in her life. He sat there, waiting for her to get comfortable again before he turned to look at her, taking time to study all that is Sam Carter. He looked at her hair which had grown slightly longer than usual, her eyes, which lacked their usual brightness and spark and were now surrounded by dark circles. Even her skin was paler than normal, lacking the usual glow that had surrounded her prior to her father's death.

Then he said something she didn't expect, "Until one of us walks out that door, which you are free to do at any time, I'm going to be Jack and you're going to be Sam. I'm not your CO and you're not my 2IC, we are just two friends who have met on this fine day to have a conversation, for, you know, some catching up, talking. Okay?"

Her only response was a small nod.

Then he repeated the question he had asked earlier, "So how have you been Sam?"

She just stared at him for a few seconds before responding with the same answer she had given him the last time, "Fine".

"Really? That's interesting because I feel fine too. See, my knees hurt, I have a headache from the overwhelming amount of paperwork that I need to deal with, the Daedalus is overdue, and to top it off there are a group of civilians who have a list of complaints a mile long. Oh yeah, and I haven't slept more than 3 or 4 hours a night since we got here, I'm running on fumes. So yeah, I guess I'm fine too."

Sam responded by launching herself into his arms and began to cry. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, galactic genius, broke down sobbing in General Jack O'Neill's arms and cried until she had no tears left to cry. Jack just sat there and wrapped her up in his arms, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could.

When the tears finally began to subside, he asked, "So I'm guessing you're still fine, eh?"

Sam giggled.

He couldn't believe it. She had went from tears to giggling within seconds.

"Yeah, I'm fine," was her response and he just sat there waiting for more. Finally she took the hint and continued, "My dad is dead. I haven't had a good night's sleep since he died, and I've left behind everything I've ever know for a new planet."

"Is that all?" He asked, even though he knew that there was probably one more thing to add to the list.

She swallowed her pride and admitted quietly, "Pete".

"Okay. Anything else?"

She just shook her head in the negative.

"All right, let's start with your dad. For crying out loud Sam, he was your father. You loved him, he loved you. Nothing can ever change that. It's never easy to let someone you love go, and even if the pain never goes away, it really does lessen over time.

"But you can't bottle it up," he continued as she choked back tears," You have to find some way to let it out. Cry if you have to, take it out on the punching bag, go out to the shooting range, but whatever you do, don't sit there and let it eat you up."

"Trust me on this one, it will lead you towards a slow and miserable death." His eyes drew to the floor. Sam put her hand on his, clearly understanding his pain.

Jack sighed, squeezing her hand, "But the most important part is to talk about it. Go talk to a friend, a shrink, or even a tree. That is the only way you'll get past that feeling of a heavy heart".

"I will," Sam felt the opening he had given her.

"My door is always open, regardless of what the future holds for either of us. Track me down at whatever hour it may be and I'll sit there and listen, well, as long as you promise not to thrown in any techno babble. Okay?"

His arms encircled her as a fresh wave of tears flowed down her face.

"Feel better now?" he asked.

"Getting there. So much is going on right now. Everyone wants a piece of my time, but there are times when I want nothing more than to curl up someplace warm and cry myself to sleep. I'll forget for a second that he won't be coming back and then when I remember, it hurts so bad that it will actually hurt to breathe."

"It's okay for it to hurt, you know? I'll miss him too. He treated me like a son and even let me call him 'Dad'. There aren't too many superior officers who would let someone do that," Jack looked into Sam's eyes, "I promised 'always', you know. That's a promise I will keep."

"Thank you. I know that you think that you're horrible with words, but just having you here often helps me feel better. As stupid as it sounds, I've missed you coming around to my lab to interrupt me. I haven't even had the time to talk to anyone," Sam paused before she made her admission.

"It took a letter from my fiancé to realize that I had even forgotten my own wedding day! Then Pete just made so many demands and assumptions that it just sent me into a downward spiral. I just started to cry," Jack handed her a tissue. "Thanks, so when Daniel found me, I didn't even object when he insisted on taking me to my quarters. I think it's the best sleep I've gotten since dad died."

Jack gulped as they got to the one topic he really didn't want to discuss. So he asked, "And how are things with Pete?"

----

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to give me some feedback. I'm also looking for either factual information or suggestions about what the name(s) of Mark Carter's children are. I'm thinking of adding children to his family for this story for a total of either 3-4 kids, so names would be helpful! Special thanks to KrisK for an extremely great beta!


	9. The long talk continued

_Jack gulped as they got to the one topic he really didn't want to discuss. So he asked, "And how are things with Pete?"_

'Yeah, Pete,' thought Sam.

//Flashback//

Samantha Carter and Cameron Mitchell had known each other for years. They had been acquaintances, but mutual respect had quickly developed between the two. With Cam's transfer onto SG-1, their respect for each other had quickly led to friendship as she welcomed him into the folds of SG-1.

They had only become friends a week before leaving Earth, and of all the current members of SG-1, they were quickly becoming the closest. They had both become the unofficial 2IC to the Generals, Sam to General O'Neill and Cam to General Laundry. This fact and their common Air Force backgrounds had them talking and meeting a lot more often than with any of the other members.

Teal'c had only been at the Beta site twice since their arrival and both times staying for only a few hours before leaving again. Daniel had already been off world several times attempting to make contact with their allies. So a friendship with Cam had seemed natural and even necessary to Sam.

As the two Lt. Colonels met for lunch, Cam started to make simple conversation and asked how her day was going. It came as quite a surprise to both of them when she started spilling out her story of how her day was really going. She started with her father's death, the meeting with the civilian Matthew Smith that morning, the letter from Pete, and finally Daniel taking her to her quarters so she could sleep.

As she finished, his only response was, "Huh".

"After all that, the only thing you can say is 'huh'?" Sam said with a shrug.

"Well, what would you like me to say?" Cam was anything if not honest, "I could tell you what I think of Pete, but then again, I'm not the one marrying him. I could tell you that 'I'm sorry your dad died' but I know how old that one gets.

"I will agree with you on Smith though, I've worked with him on the construction project and he's a jerk, no respect for the military or a chain of command, which makes getting anything done where he's involved kinda hard," replied Cam.

"Yeah, but come on, what's your opinion about Pete?" Sam pushed.

"Sam," Cam leaned towards her. "I've never met the guy. All I know about him are the things I heard around the base and the letter you've just shown me. I really don't think I know enough to form an honest opinion," Cam hoped that was enough.

"Well, I think you do know enough. I trust your opinion, so just give it to me," insisted Sam.

"Okay, well, I think that the guy sounds like someone that everyone looks at and thinks he is a good guy. He acts like a true gentleman, does everything he's supposed to, but eventually, once he's won you over, he does the complete 180. He sounds possessive, overly confident, and he's very assuming about what you want, Sam. I just don't see you as someone who just lets someone else make your decisions for you.

Sam silently took it all in, fighting herself from tearing up and looking at the floor.

"I've seen you work around the base and people here respect you, not just because of your rank but because of the respect that you show to them. If he can't respect your commitment to the Air Force, especially right now, when we need you the most, he's got problems," Cam knew that Sam was fighting her emotions now, but had to finish what he started. "If you were my little sister, I would want better for you. I'd want you to be happy, and I don't think, looking at you now, that he's the one that makes you happy or even could make you happy," explained an equally emotional Cameron Mitchell.

"You know, my dad said something along those lines to me right before he died" Sam quietly said.

"Then maybe you should take Dad's advice and do whatever it is that will make you happy, Sam" replied Cam.

"I wish it were that easy" Sam claimed wistfully.

"If you're worried about Pete's reaction, Sam, I'd be more than happy to wait close by while you talk to him. And I'm sure that Teal'c or Daniel, even General O'Neill would even be willing to do the same. Heck, we'd all be more than willing to go end it for you if that's what you want, but I know that you're someone who will need to go and do this on your own terms," said Cam.

Sam just sat there for a few moments quietly considering what had just been said when General O'Neill had approached the table and asked to sit down with them.

//End Flashback//

She hadn't got to finish that conversation with Cam. But that didn't matter now. General O'Neill, 'No, Jack,' she thought, 'right now we're just talking as friends.' She tried to think of something to say that wouldn't cause her to break out in tears again. With nothing coming to mind, she just pulled the letter from Pete out of the pocket in her jacket. But before she handed it to him, she looked Jack in the eyes and said, "Promise me that you won't do anything to Pete after you read this letter AND you won't get anyone else to do it for you, either."

Despite his instincts telling him otherwise, he went ahead and amended her request, "I promise that anything that he did prior to and including this letter, will be forgiven. But, and I stress this, anything he does in the future is fair game."

Even if that wasn't exactly what she wanted him to say, she nodded her head in agreement and handed him the letter from Pete, now tear stained and slightly crumpled.

He took the letter and settled in to read it. Sam reached for another tissue and waited.

----

Thanks for reaing, I really appreciate it. Another thanks to my awesome beta KrisK and to all you who have asked me to get rid of Pete, I promise it's coming soon. Keep reading. For those of you who have made suggestions for names, thanks and I'm still accepting those suggestions for Mark's kids and wife. Please keep the reviews and suggestions coming, its the only way I know if you're reading and if you like the story.


	10. The end of the long talk

Jack opened the letter and began to read. When he was done, he just let it drop to the ground. He then got up and began to pace across the room, occasionally running his fingers through his now completely gray hair.

"So, I'm guessing that letter was what really upset you?" questioned Jack.

"No, well, yes. It did but it wasn't the only thing. I guess you could say it was the straw that broke the camel's back, you know?" offered up a confused Sam Carter.

The glance that he sent her let her know that she had used a cliché, something that he greatly objected to, but just this once he was going to let it go.

He wanted to concentrate on what he wanted to do to Pete Shanahan, but instead he turned his attention to Sam. "So what are you going to do and how can I help you?"

"I don't know. I mean, everything with Pete just seemed to be going so well. He knew about the Stargate program and everything, not that he found out because we wanted him to know. But he was okay with it, even when there were months that we didn't do anything more than talk on the phone. I broke dates more times than I can count because something came up at work."

"When he proposed," she sighed, "I thought about it for so long and I realized that he was a nice guy, who loved me and was accepting of my job, the hours that it entailed, and that there were times when 'classified' would have to do. But the main thing was that he offered and hadn't died like every other guy that has seemed interested in me. After we got engaged, things really didn't change until it started getting closer to the wedding. That's when I started questioning my choice." Jack sat back down beside her.

"After Pete went and put an offer on that house, I was sure that I was about to make a huge mistake. But when my dad died, Pete went back to being the guy that I had agreed to marry. Then, when you told us that you were being promoted and reassigned to D.C., he suddenly went back to being the demanding boyfriend again. I was actually supposed to meet him for dinner and I was going to tell him that I wanted to put off the wedding a little bit longer…" explained Sam.

"And then Ba'al attacked."

"And then Ba'al attacked and everything we knew changed," repeated Sam.

"No Sam," Jack insistence grabbed her attention. "Not everything has changed. Sure, we're on a different world and we've been working extra hours and extra hard to accomplish some difficult tasks," they both sighed at the past, almost dream, memory of a full night of sleep. "But look at the bright side, we haven't had to do the impossible since we've been here."

That got a small giggle out of Sam. "No, we haven't been asked to do the impossible, only been asked to do an impossible amount of work in a small amount of time."

"Yeah, but that's never bothered you before," Jack smiled. "You're the one who did the impossible every other Tuesday. Where's that girl?"

"That letter kinda took some of it out of me. The fact that Pete thought he could control me, use me even, to his benefit. That's what bothers me the most. No other guy has ever done that. And to think that he found out about the Stargate because he followed us on a stakeout! I don't know why I thought I could trust the guy," Sam hated to admit. "I think I've done some stupid things in my life, but this one takes the cake because I got engaged to the guy, even Jonas wasn't this bad," she threw up her hands and began tracing the route across the room that Jack had previously paced.

Jack just let her have her space and remained silent until she dropped back onto the couch next to him. "So what are you going to do?" questioned Jack.

"I don't know how," she answered, mostly to herself.

"Do you know what you want?" Jack again questioned.

"Yes," answered Sam. _'I want to end things with Pete. I want to get a full night of sleep again. I want to quitt missing my dad so much. I want to have time to spend my family: Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Cassie, and Mark's family.'_

Although Jack waited, Sam didn't continue speaking, so he finally asked "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

Tears again filled her eyes and he gathered her in his arms once more as she said, "Just be there, just like this."

And with Sam Carter in his arms, he said the one word that could convey the depth of his feelings for her "Always, Sam, always."

As they pulled apart, Jack disappeared in a flash of white light.

----

Well, this officially ends the conversation between Jack and Sam and (if you can guess) brings one of Jack's favorite alien friends for a visit...  
Thanks for all the great reviews. Expect updates to come at least every other day now, as the story picks up the pace a little bit!


	11. The Arrival of the Asgard

Quickly returning to 'Colonel' mode, Sam ran to slap the alarm on the wall and opened the door to find Walter already there. She quickly informed him, and the arriving SF's, what had happened. Knowing they couldn't actually do anything, they just stood there waiting.

After a few minutes, he returned in the same blinding flash of light that had taken him away, but this time Thor appeared beside him. Just being two friends was over, time to work.

"I apologize for not contacting you prior to taking General O'Neill, Colonel Carter," said Thor.

"Its okay Thor, we just hadn't heard from you yet and we weren't sure that it was you," Sam was just relieved that Jack had come back.

"Yes, I received your message that Earth was attacked. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Asgard to assist your planet. I have journeyed there to scan the planet and there is no one left," even Thor sounded sad.

"No one left? Everyone's gone?" Walter sat down on Jacks desk, clearly stunned.

"Carter," Jack interrupted. "Maybe we should call a meeting and get everyone to the conference room before we continue this discussion." The look on his face told her everything that she needed to know. Whatever news Thor was about to deliver would not be good.

"I could beam everyone to the conference room," offered Thor.

"NO! I mean, Thor, I think it would better if we just let everyone get there on their own steam. I don't think that it would be a good idea if we had our command staff just start disappearing all over the Beta site. We haven't quite shared everything with our civilians yet. Need to know and all. And don't take this the wrong way, but I think that you might scare them," Sam nodded along with Thor, both agreeing with Jack's assessment.

----

Thirty minutes later, the command staff, General O'Neill, Lt. Colonels Carter, Mitchell, and Paul Davis, General Landry, all of the SG team leaders, Dr. Lam, and General Kerrigan (currently overseeing a training program for Air Force Academy cadets that had managed to make it through the gate and formalizing plans for the 'school' that all the children would attend) found themselves sitting in the briefing room. Jack had ordered the doors to the room closed, all SF's out of the room, and that guards were to be placed at the door. The only person allowed in and out was to be Walter.

Once everyone was seated, Thor beamed himself, command chair and all, into the tense room. He didn't waste any time, and just delivered the news they did not want to hear.

And it was bad. Somehow Ba'al had gotten his hands on a poison that had originally been Anubis's. The poison had turned the oxygen on Earth into some sort of sulfur, making Earth uninhabitable. The people who had not escaped through the Stargate were now dead, having suffocated to death. The only good thing Thor could tell them was that he had taken the time to gather as many supplies as his ship could hold. Everything from clothes and furniture to food supplies, which somehow had went unaffected by the poison.

Carter quickly theorized that the poison must have been of Ancient design and capable of telling a living thing from a non-living entity. From this, though, there was a bit more good news.

"How does knowing the poison was of Ancient design help us Carter?" asked an obviously frustrated General O'Neill.

"Well sir, we can guess that since we didn't hear of Ba'al using the poison anywhere else, he didn't create the poison. The poison was probably Anubis's. Also, it means that he probably doesn't know how to make any more of the poison. So, again probably, we don't have to worry about another attack," explained Sam.

"Oh, yes, wonderful news," sarcastically responded Jack. "Any more good news for us, Thor?"

"Despite scanning for the Daedalus, I found no evidence of it either on Earth or in the form of debris around Earth. It appears that the ship managed to escape the destruction of your planet, yet it has not arrived here. I will alert all Asgard vessels to scan all planets they come across for the ship in hopes that they are on a planet without a Stargate and have been unable to contact you," offered up Thor.

"Thank you, Thor," said General Landry. "At least we know they are out there somewhere."

The meeting lasted for another hour and involved the drawing up of a list of supplies for Thor to retrieve from Earth, including supplies for several large warehouses. As they were adjourning, Jack praised everyone's work, and asked them to please keep quiet about Thor's involvement until he could make an official announcement. With a wave of his hand he proclaimed, "Dismissed." Everyone except Thor, the Generals (O'Neill, Landry, and Kerrigan) and the Lt. Colonels (Carter, Mitchell, and Davis) quickly left the room.

Jack looked around the room, and in a hushed tone, asked one more question of Thor. "Were you able to locate the Stargate?"

"No O'Neill, I could not locate the Stargate on your planet."

The look shared between General O'Neill and Colonel Carter was not missed by the rest in the room.

"Jack?" questioned General Landry.

Looking to Jack for the okay, Sam explained, "The evacuation plan that we used involved having the Daedalus beam the gate on board as it lifted off in order to prevent anyone, both friendly and foe, from coming to Earth via the Stargate. If the Stargate is gone we can hope that the Daedalus got off the planet successfully and was able to beam the gate on board."

"Sir, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe I read about that being part of the evacuation protocol," stated Davis.

"Yeah Jack, where did that idea come from?" added General Landry.

Slightly embarrassed, Jack mumbled something which no one could hear.

"Excuse me, what was it that you just said General O'Neill?" goaded General Kerrigan.

"For crying out loud! I said it was something that Daniel sort of did when escaping off Apophis's ship," Jack was feeling rather humble at the moment.

"And the same way that SG-1 escaped from the Replicators?" offered up a very upbeat Colonel Mitchell.

The glare that Jack sent him was enough to silence a lesser man, but the questioning looks coming from the other occupants of the room made Cam continue. "What? I was laid up in that hospital a long time. Read every mission report for SG-1."

The amused chuckles that followed, including one from Jack, were enough for Cam to know that he was okay and off the hook for now. But if any of the stories about General O'Neill were true, he knew that he needed to watch his back.

And, like so many other times when they had managed to solve the world's problems, Jack turned to the occupants of the room, grinning like a five year old, and asked, "Anyone for cake?"

----


	12. The end of a second engagement

The next day, in front of a gathering of nearly the entire population of the Beta site, General Jack O'Neill formally introduced everyone to Asgard Supreme Commander Thor. While Jack certainly wasn't a people person, or much of a spokesperson, he did manage to convince a large portion of the crowd that Thor was an ally, a very helpful and needed ally.

Sam had to admit things had gone fairly well. And like the good 2IC that she was, she had stood by her general throughout the introduction and offered her silent support to the man who was now the leader of the only survivors of Earth. She tried not to think about what was going to happen after this was over.

//Flashback//

She had walked into his office and handed him a note which was folded close but had the name 'Pete Shanahan' written on the outside. With all the courage she could muster, she asked "Sir, can you ask one of the Airman to see that Pete gets this?"

He nodded and then asked while glancing at the note, "can I?"

Her nod, gave him the permission he sought, and he opened and read the note which really said nothing more than:

_Pete-_

_I really need to talk to you. Please meet me after the general assembly meeting today at the back edge of the area. I'll join you as soon as I can after my duties are completed._

_Sam_

Even though nothing was really said in the short note, General O'Neill looked at her and asked, "Do you know what you're going to tell him?"

"Yeah, I know what I need to tell him" she uneasily replied, "I just don't know how he's going to take it".

"I'll be here afterwards if you need to talk" he offered.

"Thank you"

//End Flashback//

As the assembly finished, Sam looked to Jack, silently asking permission to be dismissed. With an almost imperceptible nod of his head he gave her permission and she turned, descending the steps of the platform and walking to the back edge of the gathering area to find Pete already there waiting for her.

"Sam," he greeted her and attempted to kiss her before she turned away. She immediately started leading him away from the populated area of the base and towards a small cliff that was some distance from the camp and offered privacy along with a great view that overlooked the nearby lake. She sat down and waited for Pete to take a seat next to her.

"Sam," he tried again. "Did you get my letter? I know it's been several weeks since we've talked, but I want us to get married right away. I'm sure we can find a minister or whatever and get it done today and…"Sam just listened as he continued to ramble on.

Finally, she couldn't take it any longer and yelled, "STOP!" Quickly realizing that she had been a little loud, she repeated herself quieter, "Just stop, Pete."

"What, baby?" he asked as he grabbed her hand which only a few days ago had been graced by his engagement ring.

"First of all, I've told you, I don't know how many times, that I hate it when you call me baby. Then there's the fact that you have all these plans for a wedding, which is supposed to be 'our' wedding, and you haven't even asked me about any of them yet," Sam began, her frustration shining through.

"But Sam, you've been so busy with work lately, I just figured that you'd want to be married any way that you possibly could, and as soon as you possibly could, especially after your dad dying and everything…" Pete again rambled on.

Sam just let him continue talking, and rather than listening, she gazed at the beautiful scenery all around her. And waited. And waited some more. And then she realized that what she was about to do was the best thing that she could do to ensure that she wasn't miserable for the rest of her life. She couldn't be sure that she would be happy, but she could make sure that she didn't become miserable by marrying a man that she didn't love.

When he finally paused to take a breath, she turned to him and handed him the box which had her ring inside it. "Here," she stated.

"Sam," he immediately questioned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking the last piece of advice that my father had for me - he told me to be happy. And I know that marrying you won't make me happy."

Only now catching on to what was happening, he looked at the hand he held, which should have had a ring on it, then to the box. She watched closely as anger began to funnel into his face.

"It wasn't working between us Pete, and coming here hasn't fixed anything. If anything the whole situation has been made worse by the fact that we don't get to see each other as often as you'd like, and that you don't seem to understand how committed I am to my job and all these people," Sam motioned back to the main village. "Unlike your job, no one else can do what I do. I can't just tell someone 'No, I can't do this right now because I need to run off and meet my fiancé.' It just doesn't work like that Pete."

"I can wait Sam, if you aren't ready to get married now, I'll wait for you," offered Pete as his anger slowly began leaving his face.

"No Pete, I don't want you to wait for me, somewhere out there, maybe here, maybe out there, is a woman who will love you as much as you love her and you'll be happy together. I'm just not that woman," explained Sam as she attempted to let him down as softly and nicely as she could.

"Of course not, I guess I always knew that it wasn't me that made you happy. Whenever he turned up or called or needed you - you never could tell him no, could you?" Pete began rambling again, this time much of what he was saying was infused with anger. Finally he reached the point where what he was saying caught Sam's attention. "And you were just using me to forget about him. So what happened? Things get out of hand and you had to quit sleeping together for awhile, so you needed someone else to fill his spot in your bed? Is that how you got to be a Lt. Colonel so fast? Did your dad know that you had been sleeping with your CO? Did anyone know?" insinuated a now angry Pete as he continued to question her relationship to General O'Neill.

Even though Sam knew that he wouldn't believe anything that she told him, she knew that she had to try and make sure they separated on good terms, after all the chances of her not seeing him again were pretty slim, the Beta site was only so big and she couldn't hide on the military part of the base forever. So she let him continue, hoping that his ranting was letting him blow off steam.

But it didn't.

By this time they were both standing up, Pete had been pacing and Sam was just standing with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for him to finish ranting and actually turn his attention to her. When he finally did quit the ranting quite a bit later, he was still furious though and this time the rage was directed at Sam.

'_Despite his shortness of stature, he sure packs quite a punch'_ Sam thought after his fist collided with her face and sent her flying to the ground. Thankfully they were far enough from the edge of the cliff that there was no chance of either of them going over.

"Pete," she called, attempting to calm the man as she rose to her feet. "I never wanted to hurt you..."

But she never got the chance to finish that thought as Pete struck out again, this time beginning to use his fists and her stomach as a punching bag. Still not willing to fight back, she did attempt to evade and block as many of the punches as she could, but some of them managed to sneak through.

"Pete. Pete! Stop!" She commanded, but still so filled by anger, he continued his assault on her. At that point though, they were joined by two more people on the small cliff, and they weren't as willing to sit back and let Pete continue his angry attack.

----

As usual, a shout out to KrisK, my excellent beta. Thanks for reading and reviewing, I appreciate each and every one of your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming!


	13. The rescue from Pete

Sam had no clue who the two men were as they yelled at Pete and ran to her aid. She just ducked and stayed out of their way.

"Hey! Leave her alone! Get away from her!" the first man yelled.

The second man pulled Pete away from Sam, and together the two managed to pin Pete's arms at his sides. They stopped short of pushing him to the ground. "I believe that the lady said stop," said the second man as he turned to see to Sam.

What he wasn't expecting was for Pete to begin ranting again and turn his rage on the young Lieutenant, as Sam now identified him by the rank on his uniform. He only allowed Pete to get one punch in before landing the blow that knocked him to the ground. The two lieutenants worked together to keep him on the ground, pinned his arms behind his back and cuffed him.

Being pinned and held by two Air Force officers didn't slow him down any. "She broke up with me for him. She's probably been sleeping with him all along, that's how she got to where she is now. She really isn't that good at her job, she's just been sleeping with her boss," Pete ranted.

Both lieutenants turned to look at the very embarrassed Colonel Carter who was now sitting up and holding her head in her hands. When the first lieutenant realized who it was that they had just restrained and just who the 'she' was that Pete had been talking about, he started laughing. When the second man joined him, Sam misunderstood and tried to put a stop to it.

"Airman," she bellowed from her seat on the ground. While the two men failed to snap to attention like they would have for General O'Neill, they did manage to contain their laughter as the first lieutenant began to explain why he found Pete's comments so funny.

"Ma'am, no disrespect intended," he smiled. "It's just that the entire base knows that SG-1 has saved the world more times than the jarheads can count, that General O'Neill and you have a deep friendship which should be something more, and that of course neither of you have ever actually done anything inappropriate. The base betting pools are proof of that."

"Yes Ma'am," continued the second lieutenant. "Everyone knows that neither of you would disrespect your positions. Heck, SG-1's members are the most respected on base. One of the first things I was told when I arrived was that you guys are the best. The fact that your boyfriend is stupid enough to believe and spread rumors about you, is just funny ma'am. And everyone knows that you are the brains behind the whole operation. Without a doubt, you have earned everything that you've gotten so far - you deserve far more than you've received."

"Thank you lieutenant," Sam said, now blushing at the high praise she had received. "But it is team work that saved the world every time - not just one person."

"If you say so ma'am," the second lieutenant smiled.

Sam attempted to rise to her feet and groaned at the pain which shot out from her stomach.

"Colonel, are you okay?" asked the first of the lieutenants.

"Just peachy lieutenant…" she dropped off, not knowing the name of the men who had come to her aid.

"Lieutenant Blackridge, ma'am, and this is Lieutenant Green. Are you sure you're okay ma'am or do we need to call out the doctor to take a look at you?"

The glare she sent his way let him know that no, the doctor would not be necessary. _'I'm a Lt. Colonel in the United States Air Force for crying out loud if I need to see a doctor, I'll do it on my own terms,' _thought Sam.

The three, and a now quiet, but still unwilling, Pete began a slow walk back to the base. When they reached the security perimeter, the two lieutenants were met by a miffed Major Williams, who demanded, "Where the hell have you two been? You missed your scheduled check-in and I was just about to send a search party after you."

At this point, Sam felt it was in her best interest to make her presence known. "Major, they stopped to assist me with a problem of my own. I suggest that you assign another pair to replace them as they will be assisting me with that matter tonight."

"I'm sorry Colonel Carter, I didn't realize that you were involved. I trust that the lieutenants are not the cause of you problem?"

"No Major, they've been _exceptionally_ helpful," Sam gave a grateful smile to the young airmen.

Major Williams, satisfied with her answer, finally noticed that the lieutenants were restraining someone. "Colonel, is there anything I can help you with?" gesturing with his head towards Pete.

"Actually, Major, what is the SOP for a person who causes problems on the base?" questioned Sam with a short glance at her former fiancé.

"Depends, ma'am. If they just get a little rowdy or noisy late at night we escort them to their quarters or a holding cell and just give them a reminder that this is not the place for that. If they start a fight or something and they're military they could face a court martial. Just depends on who the person is and who all is involved" explained the perplexed Major.

"Thank you, Major, that will be all," she dismissed the major.

"Um, ma'am, will there be any official report?" questioned the major, as he realized the paperwork that would go with getting two additional men out of bed that night.

"Just that they were requested by me for the evening, that should be enough. If anyone asks you any more questions, direct them to me, please," answered Colonel Carter.

"Yes, ma'am. Have a good evening," replied the major as he went to see about finding two extra guards for the night.

When they got back to the base, Sam turned to the lieutenants and explained, "Take him to a holding cell. Have them keep him overnight. Don't explain why or what he was doing, just that you're acting on my orders. Then type up two reports, one of what actually happened and another one that just says he was being difficult and was found outside of the security perimeter so you decided to detain him. Deliver the fudged report to the security people and the 'real' copy to my office. Then take the rest of the night off. But please keep quiet about what happened," she requested of them, knowing that she shouldn't order them to keep quiet, but hoped that they would.

"Yes, ma'am," they both responded.

The two lieutenants and Pete headed for the holding cells and she went in search of Jack. She could really use a friend right now.

----

Author's note: Sorry to disappoint some of you by not having Jack, Teal'c, or Daniel coming to Sam's rescue here. But if you think that Pete is going to get off easy, just wait, Jack will have a 'talk' with him.


	14. Another Sam and Jack conversation

The door to his office was shut when Jack returned from examining the new warehouses that Thor had filled with supplies. '_Weird,_' he thought. He distinctly remembered leaving it open. He entered the room he flicked on the light switch, then he found Sam asleep on the couch in his office. He walked over and kneeled on the floor, despite the protests from his knees. He lightly shook her in an attempt to wake her up, softly calling, "Carter," and hoping that she wouldn't go into attack mode.

He could tell that she had been crying again and there was bruise starting to form on her swollen cheek.

Sam woke with a start and moved too quickly in the unfamiliar surroundings. She groaned and grimaced with the pain the movement caused. Then, she realized that someone had a hand on her shoulder and she remembered where she was - in General O'Neill's office.

Looking at him, she apologized, "Sir, I'm sorry. I was waiting for you and I must have fallen asleep," claimed a blushing Colonel Carter.

"For crying out loud Carter, it's okay. I'm glad that one of us got some sleep. I guess I didn't realize the couch was that comfortable. Now, was there something you needed from me or did you just miss me?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"Not really sir."

"You sure, I mean I don't think you came all the way to my office to sleep on my couch," Jack teased.

"Actually sir, I did need something," admitted Sam.

He waited patiently for her to begin speaking and when she didn't, it finally dawned on him that she wasn't going to offer anything up. He was going to have to drag whatever she wanted to talk about out of her, and he thought had a pretty good idea what that 'talk' would be about. "So you wanna tell me what it is?"

"Not really sir, but if you could find Jack for me and have him shut the door, Sam would really like to talk to him right now - Colonel Carter had to go home early today," she explained in a friendly teasing voice.

Playing along, his response included a small smile as he said, "Let me see if I can find Jack for you," and then he walked out of the room. One quick conversation with Walter and with two cups of coffee in hand, he returned to the room, juggled the two cups as he shut and locked the door before heading for the couch once more.

He handed Sam the cup of coffee and watched as she drank in its smell before taking a sip. And then he waited patiently for her to speak.

When she finally felt relaxed enough to being the conversation, she looked Jack in the eye and with a great sense of finality announced, "I broke it off with Pete today. I gave him the ring back and everything."

"Are you okay with that?" he questioned, not at all worried about how Pete had taken things, only concerned about how this would affect Sam.

"Yeah, I am," she said with a slight nod of her head. "I mean considering I just broke off my second engagement in as many attempts. I guess I should be thankful that he didn't die, but I know that marrying him would never made me as happy as what I've been being on SG-1 the last eight years," she replied wistfully.

"You know that it won't be back to the 'good ole days of SG-1' right? There are going to be some changes coming through about who's doing what and going where. Teal'c probably won't be around much, he's going to spend most of his time with the Free Jaffa. Spacemonkey is going to be spending more time revisiting some of the old temples and such, looking at his beloved rocks that he didn't spend enough time on the first time around. And Hank and I talked this morning about the other SG teams and both came to the agreement of no exploration of new planets. We'll keep in touch with our allies on the current planets that we already know about, but no new ones right now."

"What about me?" she quietly asked, almost dreading the answer.

"I don't know, that really depends on what you want to do and what you're needed for. But for now, I'm thinking you need some cake. Care to join me?" he questioned, quickly leaving behind the discussion about what the future held for her.

"Cake? When did we cake again? I thought we ran out after the first week here."

"Oh we did, but Thor thought that cake was one of the items on the 'necessities' list, so he made sure to get some in the first load of items he brought from Earth. Seems he thought it was essential to Tau'ri Asgard relations to keep his favorite human happy."

"Is that so? Then, pray tell, why did he bring cake instead of blue Jello-O?" she questioned with a glint in her eyes.

"Oh, now you've asked for it," he leaned over and began to tickle her sides.

Her shrieks of laughter quickly turned to a cry of pain that caused him to stop his attack on her stomach, wondering how he could have hurt her. Allowing her to regain her composure, he waited before he asked the one question that he had refused to think about when he had seen the state of her face, "How bad is it?"

"I've had worse," she grimaced. "I don't think he broke anything, my ribs are just bruised up."

"I'm going to kill him," Jack claimed and stood up, moving towards the door.

"No Jack!" Sam quickly demanded. "He might have gotten in some good punches, but who can blame him? I just ended my relationship with him, when he was still convinced that we were going to get married today. A couple of lieutenants stopped him before he could do any real damage and they put him in a holding cell until the morning when I decide what I want to do with him. Me, Samantha Carter, no one else's choice."

The glare she gives him tells him that neither General O'Neill nor Jack is going to interfere with this choice. "All right," he finally concedes. "But let's get you over to the infirmary and have you checked out at least," and the use of his CO voice lets her know that this point is not debatable.

'_And in the meantime, maybe I'll pay a visit to Mr. Shanahan,' _he thought.

"Okay," she gave in, in a small voice.

He offered her his hand to pull herself up off the couch and she moved to wrap her arms around him. He returned the hug, although not squeezing as tight as he would have in the past. When her grip on him loosened, he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the door and opened it, offering to let her walk out of the room first.

But before she did, Sam turned to him and said, "Thank you," and then stepped out of the room and began the walk towards the infirmary.

----

Author's Note: Well there you have it, the much awaited conversation between Sam and Jack. I hope it met expectations! As usual, thanks to my beta-KrisK and to all of you who have graced me with wonderful reviews. Thanks for reading, there's a lot more to come yet!


	15. Another O'Neill

A short time later, Sam was in the infirmary being examined by Dr. Lam, who under a 'suggestion' from General O'Neill, was told to keep quiet and take as long as possible. Having learned not to question the General, she did, even sending the Colonel off for x-rays, which thankfully had shown no broken bones. But there was only so long that she could hold off before Sam would catch on.

Finally, when she could hold off no longer, she returned to the bed that Sam had been assigned. She said, "Well, lucky for you, your ribs are just bruised and will probably be pretty sore for a little while. I want to wrap them up to give you a little extra support and cushioning. You'll probably have a nice bruise on your face, but no lasting marks. I don't suppose that I could get you to tell me how you sustained these injuries?" questioned Dr. Lam, who really didn't expect an answer from the very private woman in front of her.

"No, can I go now?"

"As soon as I wrap those ribs up," offered the Doctor while she proceeded to work in silence except for the occasional groan of pain from the Colonel.

When she had finished, she nodded to Sam and said, "I suggest that you avoid whatever activity got you these injuries, now and in the future. And if you ever need to talk, my door is always open," Dr. Lam opened the curtain to leave with a small smile.

She stopped though when Sam spoke again, this time quieter so that no one else could hear her. "So how long did the General ask you to take?"

Colonel Carter took the fact that Dr. Lam didn't respond as the answer.

----

To say that Jack was upset was putting it mildly. The fact that Teal'c and Daniel weren't around to help him (or calm him down, in Daniel's case) didn't help much either. But even he wasn't stupid. He knew that if he, or they, he smiled to himself about the surprise in store for Pete, went 'to talk' to Pete right now, he didn't know if they could control themselves and keep from killing the man. He needed back-up and he came across the perfect man for the job. He went to the quarters that all of SG-1 shared and found Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell there lightly knocking on the door.

"Mitchell!" he called.

"Sir, um I was looking for Colonel Carter. I thought she might want to talk or go to the gym or something…" explained the slightly flustered Colonel.

"Well, she's not here right not, but if you're not doing anything else right now, I think you could help me out with a problem, if you give me a second to get some things."

"I don't want to interrupt your evening sir, I'm sure you have better things to do then go to the gym with me," the Cam said, not wanting to bother the General.

"Mitchell, you obviously didn't hear me, I need your help with something. It shouldn't take too long and then I'll tell you where you can find Carter," offered Jack as he stepped into the room and held the door open until Mitchell had also entered. "I'll just be a minute," he said as he grabbed a couple of items from a drawer and entered the small bathroom.

Mitchell took the opportunity to look around the room and noticed the four beds which were strategically placed throughout the room, making the room quite crowded. Pictures adorned the two dressers, most were of the various members of SG-1, but other pictures were also there. One included a small boy with a baseball glove, another was of a beautiful woman with a large smile, and a third frame included a picture of a much younger Samantha Carter in what obviously was a family portrait and other side of the frame had a picture of a much older Sam, taken some time in the last few years and included Mark's family along with Jacob.

The last picture though was the one that caught his eye. It was of SG-1, probably after one of those times they had just saved Earth and were celebrating, judging by the group hug the group was caught up in. So absorbed in looking at the pictures, he didn't hear the door to the room open and was startled when a voice said, "That's one of my favorites."

Despite recognizing the voice, Mitchell was surprised when he turned around a saw a younger version of General O'Neill standing there in BDUs. Slightly shorter, and many years younger, there was no doubt that this man was an O'Neill.

At this point the door to the bathroom opened and Jack stepped out. He nodded to the younger man saying, "Jonathan," and the younger man returned the greeting saying "Jack."

Suddenly it dawned on Mitchell who the younger man was, this was the younger version of General O'Neill, his clone! "So, what is it that you need me for?" questioned Mitchell.

"We need your help making sure that we don't kill a man," Jack said deliberately.

"What?"

"Shut the door, Jonathan." He went on to give a brief recap of the events of the day, Carter's break-up with Pete, Pete beating her up, and Pete now sitting in a holding cell.

"So just to be clear, you two are going to go in scare the crap out of the man, and you need me to do what?" Cam questioned, quickly catching on.

"I need you to make sure that we," Jack indicated both the O'Neills, "Don't cause too much harm to the man, if you can't handle that, now would be the time to leave."

The fact that Mitchell didn't move was enough of an answer for the General.

----

I promise that Pete/Jack show down will be in the next chapter, but the visit from Jonathan was too good to pass up. As always, thanks to KrisK for being the best beta!


	16. Pete meets Jonathan

The arrival of a Colonel, a General, and a Lieutenant (as Jonathan had explained what his current rank and responsibilities were) who looked quite a bit like the General, at the holding cells did not go unnoticed by the Major in charge. It didn't take much for him to figure out what the three must be up to.

The fact that one of the other men currently in lock-up had already gotten to Pete, after finding out who he had been dating and his repeated bad mouthing of General O'Neill, really didn't bother him. He figured that it worked out best for the three new arrivals that Pete was going to need a trip to the infirmary to deal with his obviously broken nose. He had just pulled Pete from his cell when the three intimidating men walked in the room. Personally, he thought, the look on Pete's face was priceless. The only way the scene could have gotten better was if Teal'c had been there. The Major was sure that Pete would have passed out right away if that had been the case.

Jack took one look at the scene and authoritatively stated, "I think we'll accompany you to the infirmary."

They were only about 100 feet out the door when Jack called the group to a halt and addressed the two lieutenants assigned to escort Pete to the infirmary. "Why don't you guys go get some coffee or something, I like mine black by the way, and meet us in the infirmary in about 20 minutes?" He waited until they nodded and had disappeared from view before turning to Pete and pushing him through the nearest open door which, rather nicely, turned out to be an empty storage room.

----

Pete Shanahan had never been that scared before in his life. He was alone with three very furious looking men. And the least furious of the three now stood guarding the door, his only means of escape from the room.

He didn't even realize that he had been moved by someone else until he was up against the wall, and was being held there by one imposing General O'Neill.

It finally dawned on him that the youngest man in the room was talking, "You obviously didn't get the 'talk' from Jacob about how if you ever hurt Sam, there would be hell to pay. I know he gave it to us, and we were just her CO, for crying out loud. So let me make it clear to you now - if I ever hear of you coming close to Samantha Carter again, you will wish that we had killed you now."

"Who are you?" whimpered the former police officer.

Jack smiled in an evil fashion and said "He's my clone, has all my memories, knows everything I know, and I have no doubt that he has had plenty of time to think up way to torture you that would make Teal'c cringe."

"Speaking of Teal'c," the third man finally spoke, the one he didn't know, "I consider Sam to be like my sister and I've only really gotten to know her over the last month or so. Imagine what Teal'c would feel like, or even Daniel, if we told them what you did to Sam today. I doubt anyone could stop them from killing you."

"And I doubt they would be the only ones, judging by your nose," the cloned O'Neill added.

The gleam that appeared in all three of their eyes was enough for him to be silent.

"So do you get the message?" pushed Jack.

All he could do was nod and hope they had nothing else planned for him.

Jack reluctantly released him from the death grip and roughly pushed him out the door in the direction of the infirmary. Pete was so concerned about staying as far away from the three men as he could get that he didn't even notice the person he almost walked into, until someone reached out and yanked him away from the door.

When he realized it was Sam who had walked out the door, he looked at her and whispered the only thing that he possibly could, "Sam, I'm sorry."

The fact that she didn't burst into tears was credit to her character, but she looked at him and said, "Pete, it's over, stay away from me and my family if you know what's good for you."

"Your family? I'll talk to Mark if I want to," he called out as one of the lieutenants shoved him through the door to the infirmary.

"No! Pete, my family, Mark may be my brother but my family is SG-1 and Cassie, I suggest you stay away from them or there will be no planet in the galaxy that you can safely hide on," she threatened as a parting shot.

And then they were out of his sight and he was greeted by an unhappy doctor who had some very large needles laid out for him. And he wondered if it would have been easier on him to just accept whatever torture the three men had planned rather than whatever this doctor had in store for him.

----

Thanks for all of your great reviews of the previous chapter. Let me know what you think of this one. As always, thanks to my beta KrisK!


	17. Thor brings news and guests!

Cam caught the exchange of glances between the two O'Neills, and understood it to include a promise that the older O'Neill would take care of her. The younger O'Neill had disappeared by the time Mitchell looked for him again.

Cam was surprised that neither of the men had given him the death glare, especially considering the woman who was currently in his arms. But judging by the passive look on Jack's face, Cam knew that the General did not consider him a threat and that he was also probably the best person Sam could be found with.

When Cam felt her grip on him lessen, he allowed her to escape his arms. Jack handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes. Once again her face resumed the soldier mask that she had perfected so well by now.

When this had happened, Jack looked at Sam and Cam and casually asked, "Anyone for cake?"

The giggle he received from Sam and a smile from Cam was the best sight he had seen in weeks.

But they never made it to the mess hall. Jack and Sam disappeared in a flash of light right before Cam's eyes.

----

"Thor," Jack yelled. "You really need to quit doing that."

"I apologize O'Neill, but I felt it imperative to inform you that I had located the Daedalus and it is now in orbit around your planet but due to a communications malfunction is unable to contact you."

"Thor, that's great! Can you beam us over there?" Jack was very relieved.

"Thor wait! Sir, I think it would be wise to inform the base where we went. I know exactly what's going on in Cam's mind right now. A simple flash of light really isn't easy to explain," Sam said.

"Yeah, Thor can you do - Oh hey guys. Hank, Mitchell - we're with Thor. He says the Daedalus is in orbit and needs repairs. Can you get some beacons out and lit on the landing field so we can get her put down planet-side? Great. We'll be in contact, O'Neill out."

A quick nod to Thor and the two of them were standing on the bridge of the Daedalus.

----

It was quite obvious to Sam that the ship had received some damage, but the group of people standing there to greet them was a welcome sight to her eyes. She snapped to attention.

Jack, ever the comedian, also stood at attention and asked in his best command voice, "Permission to come aboard Mr. President?"

"Granted General, welcome aboard, both of you. It's good to see some familiar faces," sighed Henry Hayes, the current _'or was that former'_ Jack wondered, President of the United States of America.

"Yes, welcome indeed! We could use a little help with some of the repairs, Colonel Carter. At least enough so that we can land and then do the rest of the repairs later," offered General Hammond.

"What can I do to help sir?" Sam dutifully asked.

"Begin repairs on whatever you deem necessary for the ship to land," ordered General Hammond.

"What systems are currently not functioning, sir?" she questioned, happy for the distraction of work.

"I think, Colonel, it would be easier to list what is working, which includes life support, some thrusters, and the anti-gravity generators," General Hammond admitted.

The look she gave General Hammond reminded those present of Teal'c with how high up her eyebrow went.

"Okay," she said, pushing the word out and sighing at the same time.

Jack was quick to jump in. "You know Carter, this is all your fault," he began.

The looks he received from Hammond and the President were of blatant curiosity and enough for him to know he should continue.

"Why do you say that Jack?" questioned Hayes.

"Well, sir, Carter was saying just yesterday that she hadn't had to do the impossible every other Tuesday since arriving at the Beta site. Then you guys show up - on a Tuesday no less!" Jack happily proclaimed.

She hoped the glare that she was sending in his direction conveyed just how embarrassed he was making her. Since it didn't even faze him she gave up and joined the laughter of the others, already contemplating her revenge. And then she realized something. "Actually sir, I respectfully disagree, you were the one who said that, I just agreed with you."

The laughter grew twice as loud.

----

It took Sam a little over five hours, most of which involved replacing broken and damaged crystals in the control panels, before she deemed the ship ready to land.

They began the countdown to begin the engine power up, with Sam in the pilot's seat and General Hammond in the Captain's chair. Jack was occupying the navigator's chair while the President had chosen to sit in a chair monitoring non-functioning systems.

Jack thought this was the perfect time to start a conversation with the other General. "George, I was actually starting to get worried that you weren't going to show up. Next time, could you give me a little warning when you're going to have problems with things like this?"

Hammond just turned to the man who had caused him more grief than any other the past eight years and said, "Now you know how I felt every time you guys were overdue or went missing - which was quite often!"

Needless to say, this brought quite a lot of laughter to the bridge. Once things had quieted down, though Sam announced, "Commence engine startup," and they began the descent to the planet.

Without fully functioning shields, the trip through the atmosphere was a little rough, but they made it. Yet the sigh of relief that Sam let out when she landed the ship was audible to the entire bridge.

"Carter were you worried?" Jack teased.

"Not worried so much as nervous, Sir. After all, when was the last time that you landed a ship as big as the Daedalus carrying three Generals and the President?"

"Well, honestly never," Jack paused to think, with a sympathetic shudder. "Come on lets go greet the troops."

----


	18. Speeches and meetings

To say the greeting the crew of the Daedalus received was loud and welcoming would be an understatement. Despite that short warning of the arriving of the dignitaries, the crowd there consisted of military personnel front and center, standing in parade formation, and surrounded on all sides by civilians and military families.

Exiting the only ground level hatch, modified on the initial ship design after the incident that had left them stranded with the Prometheus, Colonel Carter and General O'Neill were quick to join the other military personnel who had already left the ship. One of the last few to leave, they were towards the front of the military group. When General Hammond stepped through the door, it was O'Neill who called out the order for attention, and was quite proud of the men and women who had been serving under him these past few weeks for their precise response.

Hammond stepped onto the hastily constructed platform and podium that had been placed there and motioned for silence from the crowd, which he quickly received.

Then he began to give a quick speech, "First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for the way you have dealt with things over the past few weeks, although I have yet to hear of your adventures, I'm sure that if they are anything like what the crew of the Daedalus has experience, we will all have quite a story to tell our grandkids. I could not be prouder of each and every one of you. Enough from me though, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Henry Hayes, the President of the United States".

If the cheers from the crowd had been loud before, they had now become deafening as the President exited the ship and climbed to the stage, taking the same spot that General Hammond had occupied only moments before.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you today as the President of a country which no longer exists, on a planet that is not in our solar system. But that doesn't matter; today we are all people for whom life has taken a different direction. Everything has changed from what you knew a month ago. Many of you were faced with challenges everyday that you could not share with your families, and now your families share in your challenges. Only by working together, where everyone's talents and abilities are put to their best use, will we flourish as the colony that circumstances have forced us to become."

He paused, allowing what he had just said to sink in before continuing. "I am sure that there will be changes to come in the future-but for today, it is enough to know that we are all here, alive. Very soon, we will have to take advantage of that fact and celebrate, but for now, I'm asking that everyone return to their normal duties and that the Daedalus crew remains behind to receive their orders. Dismissed."

Despite the fact he had just given an order, the majority of the crowd took the time to applaud and cheer before turning around and going back to their assigned tasks. The military personnel who were not on duty were all gathered around in small groups, exchanging greetings and swapping stories.

It was at this point he noticed Jack O'Neill and Colonel Carter off to the side, not talking, just standing there and observing. What they didn't notice was the approach of Dr. Jackson and Teal'c from the base. He observed the foursome as they exchanged greetings and had to permit himself a small smile at the happiness the group radiated at being reunited.

----

The briefing that followed included all the top officials, which made the conference room quite crowded, and took the rest of the day. And the days that followed included even more meetings as the command structure of the Beta site was redefined and discussed.

The fact that there was now more Generals on the Beta site that what was really needed, actually made Jack happy _'maybe I can get out of the desk job, paperwork stuff.'_ He thought, _'and get back into the field some more. I really miss it'._

Unfortunately, those plans were not what the other Generals and the President had in mind as the last meeting took place which involved only those Generals and the President.

"What!" exclaimed Jack.

"We want you to remain in charge of everything Stargate related" repeated President Hayes. "Personally, I think you're the best man for the job, you've got more experience than any other person here with the Stargate. Essentially, you'd being doing the same job you would have done in Washington".

"But Mr. President, I just figured that with the arrival of General Hammond and General Jumper, that they would take over command" explained Jack.

"Son, I was ready to retire before all of this happened. Now that we're here, I guess I'll be retiring off world" General Hammond explained with a large smile on his face. "This doesn't mean I won't be available for advice Jack, just that when an emergency occurs at 0300 hours, they call you first and then you can call me".

"No, No, No" repeated General O'Neill. "I don't want command of the Stargate stuff. Honestly, the only reason I agreed to take the job in D.C. was because I was afraid of who else you might find to take the job. Now that we're here, I feel comfortable letting any one of the people sitting around this table being in charge-as long as it's not me".

The laughter around the table, made Jack relax as he knew that no one was going to reprimand him.

"Okay, so what objections do you have about taking this job?" asked General Jumper.

"I hate not getting to go out in the field. I hate the paperwork. I hate sitting and listening to everyone else talk about where they're going and what they did while they were out there but most of all, I hate sending them out there and then having to wait and worry until they get back. I'd much rather be out there with them then flying a desk" explained Jack.

"Let's see then if we can come up with a plan that makes everyone around this table happy, although Jack, I don't see you being able to totally give up on all of those things, I think we can do something about some of those items" offered President Hayes.

One very long conversation later, and everyone agreed with the command structure plan that had been laid out. General Jumper would effectively be in charge of everything. All Generals would essentially report to him, although on matters relating to the Stargate, he would basically be an observer and leave that stuff up to the more experienced Generals. This left him to take care of civilian matters.

Joining General Jumper would be General Kerrigan who would be overseeing the newly setup 'school' and academy and would also be assisting in civilian matters.

General Hammond would be permitted to retire but, would effectively join General Landry in running the Stargate program anytime that General O'Neill went off world and would of course, still be available for advice at any time.

And Jack was happy. Yep, General O'Neill was getting his wish. He would be taking the tactical side of command off of General Landry's hands as the two would have joint command over all things Stargate involved. But Jack felt he was getting the best part of the deal. His command would run light on paperwork and heavy on the field time. He was even anticipating the start of the school year in a few weeks as he had to agree to take on being the head of the new recruit training program. But in his mind, it was a small price to pay for getting out from behind the desk.

Even the President seemed overjoyed to hear his responsibilities would be getting him away from all of the politics he had experience in D.C. Despite having to setup some sort of government on the planet, he would begin coordinating with Generals Jumper and Kerrigan on civilian matters.

But perhaps the happiest person of the bunch when all of this was announced at an official briefing was a particular Lt. Colonel who saw that a certain General was no longer in her direct chain of command as she would now report directly to General Landry. She knew that she would have to thank 'Uncle George' for that favor, but what she didn't realize was that she wasn't the only one who had asked for her to be removed from a certain General's chain of command.

Even if neither of them were ready to pursue a relationship at this time, Sam and Jack had both thought ahead so that when they were ready, no regulations would stand in their way.

----

Author's Note: This went up un-beta-ed so let me know if you spot any errors. As always, thanks for your wonderful reviews!


	19. Introducing Izzy

The Daedalus had brought many crew members and as many of their family members as could be loaded onto the ship in the short amount of time they had to evacuate Earth. The ship's arrival to 'New Earth' had reunited some families, but most importantly, the ship had brought additional men and woman, who were career military with no knowledge of the Stargate Program, and others with various non-military skills. These newcomers were welcomed and quickly put to work.

President Henry Hayes could not have been happier with how everything had worked out. So he quickly made good on his promise of a celebration and set about making it happen.

Two weeks later after the last survivors of the Earth found their way to 'New Earth', the survivors prepared to enjoy a picnic lunch that followed the morning speeches and announcements of the upcoming planned changes. Families and friends enjoyed celebrating with each other on the big grass field, which would by next year be home to a soccer field, a baseball diamond, and a specially designed course for training cadets at the newly established Air Force Academy. In fact, this celebration marked the end of a prolonged spring hiatus for the students. Normal routines would begin for all school age children on the following Monday.

Jack, sitting with General Hammond and President Hayes, was startled when a small bundle of long black hair literally bounced into his lap. Once he recognized the little girl, he immediately gave her his attention and began one of his famed tickle attacks on the girl. He finally stopped when she couldn't breathe through her laughter. He held her tight, though, to prevent her escape.

"Jack, where are your manners? Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked General George Hammond with a large grin gracing his face.

"Well sirs, this little ball of energy is Isabelle Faith Carter, Colonel Carter's niece, Jacob's youngest granddaughter, the baby of the family," explained Jack.

"Oh, well Isabelle, my name is Henry Hayes and it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," offered President Hayes along with a hand.

Isabelle just looked at the man, stuck her lip out in a pout and declared to all three men in her most grown up voice, "My name is Izzy not Isabelle. I am thwee years old and I am not a baby."

George bust out laughing, "Yep, she's a Carter."

"Why do you say that, George?" asked Hayes.

"When Sam was about her age, Jacob and I met up. The last time I had seen Sam was right after she was born when Jacob had asked me and my wife to be her godparents. So when I held out my hand and introduced myself to her, calling her 'Samantha', Sam had the same expression on her face and informed me in the most grown up voice she could muster 'My name is Sam, not Samantha'. To this day, I have never ever called her Samantha again for fear of what she might do to me if I did," explained a grinning Hammond.

"You're right 'Uncle George' if you had called me Samantha on most days, I probably would have enacted some sort of punishment on you," reminded a voice from behind Jack, who quickly turned around to look at who was joining them.

"I'm sorry, sirs, if Izzy is interrupting your discussion, I turned around for a second to help Andrew and Josclyn with something and the next thing I knew she was gone," explained Sam, sending a glare in the direction of the young girl despite the amusement which lit her eyes.

"I'm sowwy, Aunt Sam, I know you towd me not go off on my own, but I saw Uwcle Jack and he wooked wonewy," explained the downcast three year old girl. (Translation: I'm sorry Aunt Sam, I know you told me not to go off on my own, but I saw Uncle Jack and he looked lonely).

"Well now that you've seen him, are you ready to come back and finish lunch with me and your brother and sister?" questioned Sam.

"Yes Aunt Sam," answered the three year old who leaned over and planted a kiss on 'Uncle Jack's' cheek and tried to escape his from his arms but he refused to let her go. "Uwcle Jack," she squealed, "wet me go," laughing the whole time.

"Nope, sorry, no can do young lady. We are at war, and until I get something in exchange for you, I don't think I can let you leave," explained the light hearted General, working furiously to keep the little girl in his arms.

Sam just rolled her eyes and looked at the other two men and in a stage whisper said, "Well, I guess that means that I can have an extra big piece of cake for lunch since Izzy won't be there."

At the mention of cake, Jack loosened his grip on the young girl, who took the opportunity to escape and decided that 'Grandpa George' may be a better defender from Aunt Sam than Uncle Jack.

"Cake?" Jack quipped, "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

"I believe she just did, Jack," laughed Hayes, watching the antics of the young girl with a smile on his face.

Jack just took that as his cue that he could leave now, and said, "Well sirs, if you'll excuse me, I believe that I have a piece of cake waiting on me." He stood up and reached down to pluck Izzy out of a George's lap, but not before the little girl had given George a tight hug and a kiss. Jack tossed her over his shoulder as she began to scream with laughter. In the midst of her laughter, she proceeded to look up and wave good bye saying "Bye Gwampa George. Bye Uwcle Henwy". Both men smiled at the girl and raised their hands to return her wave.

Sam rolled her eyes and said, "Sometimes I wonder which one is the adult and which one is the kid," before nodding her goodbyes to the two men and turning to follow Jack and Izzy back to where Andrew and Joscyln were waiting to start lunch.

Sam heard George call out after her "So do I!" and she just shook her head in laughter.

The two men traded glances. Both had noticed that the young girl had referred to Jack as 'Uncle Jack' and seemed rather comfortable sitting in his lap, but neither would ever voice a concern of a possible inappropriate relationship, after all, Colonel Carter had been engaged to another man just a few weeks ago.

Yet that didn't stop either of them from wondering how well Izzy knew General Jack O'Neill and how she come by that knowledge.

----

Author's note: Special thanks for the name Isabelle Faith Carter goes to 'Alexpat1' who I have shortened to Izzy for cuteness purposes. Also credit for the names Andrew and Josclyn goes to 'Astrophysics Rock', although I admit changing the spelling and shortening it to Josie on occasion. Izzy is totally my creation and will make occasional apperances throughout the story as she has General Jack O'Neill wrapped around her finger, despite having no blood relation to him. For the record, those of you might think is some real reason why Jack and Izzy get along so well, I just point out that Jack always was a big kid himself, so I created a little girl who he can bond with. I promise that Izzy will not be revealed to be Sam and Jack's daughter somewhere down the line.

The next few chapters will all be a series of flashbacks that deal with the time period around Jacob's death. And you will also be forced to suffer to a little more Sam/Pete, but please remember that the Sam has already ended that relationship-this just gives everyone a little bit more of a look into the reason why. As alwasy thanks for reading and reviewing! Also, thanks to KrisK who was the beta for this chapter.


	20. An introduction to the Carter family

_Yet that didn't stop either of them from wondering how well Izzy knew General Jack O'Neill and how she come by that knowledge._

Thankfully, neither General Hammond nor President Hayes had anything to worry about.

//Flashback//

Jack was casually dressed, standing beside his former 2IC at the airport awaiting the arrival of the plane that brought her brother's family to Colorado Springs for Jacob's funeral.

When the plane finally landed, a man, who looked somewhat similar to Jacob, approached Sam and gently pulled her into a hug. Jack noticed three children being herded by a woman he presumed to be Mark's wife. He walked over to her. "Mrs. Carter?"

"Yes, but it's Maggie," answered the beautiful woman who looked to be a few years older than Sam. "Josie, please keep an eye on Izzy and Andrew, could you grab that bag for me?"

"Here, let me," Jack offered, grabbing one of the bags out of her hand. "By the way, my name's Jack, I worked with Jacob."

"Jack O'Neill? Jacob mentioned you before," Maggie said with surprise.

"Yeah, that's me," admitted Jack. "But don't believe everything you hear."

"Actually, he had nothing but good things to say about you. Which coming from Jacob is high praise," claimed Maggie.

"Still, don't believe everything you hear," remarked Jack.

If not for the black-ops training, he would have jumped sky high when he felt something latch onto his leg. Looking down he saw a girl with a long mop of dark hard, similar to Maggie's, looking up at him with the deep blue Carter eyes. "And who are you?" he questioned.

Knowing her youngest child could be shy, Maggie was surprised she would latch on to a complete stranger. Maggie introduced the girl, "That is Isabelle Faith Carter, my youngest - she's three."

Kneeling down till their eyes where at an equal height he said, "Hi. I'm Jack and you're Isabelle. Jacob told me quite a bit about you. He was really hoping to spend more time with you."

"He did?" questioned a boy's voice.

"Yeah, he did. He was on his way to see you guys when he collapsed," Jack said as he turned around to look at the teen age boy who had just spoken. "He really wanted to see you all one more time."

"Sure he did" sarcastically stated the young man.

"He did, in fact he wrote a letter to each of you and left them in my possession to give to you after the funeral."

"He did?" Sam said quite surprised.

Returning to his full height, Jack turned to face Sam and her brother and reassured, "Yeah, he did."

Realizing that she hadn't made any introductions, Sam composed herself and began, "General, this is my brother Mark, his wife Maggie, and their children Andrew, who's 14, Jocelyn, who's 9, and Izzy, who just turned 3."

Despite his dislike of the military, Mark walked over to the General, held out his hand and greeted the man, "General, its nice to meet you, Dad had good things to say about you."

"For crying out loud, all of you, I'm only going to say this once," he stated, and pointed at Sam. "She 'sirs' and 'Generals' me to death, the rest of you are not permitted to do that. My name is Jack, please. Your father permitted me to call him by his first name and nothing would please me more if you would all do the same."

"I think we can do that," relaxed Mark Carter.

"Good, then how about we get the rest of your luggage and head back to Carter's place. I'll call the guys and have them meet us there with some pizza. Does that work for everyone?"

No one objected so he took it as a yes. He reached down and picked up one of the suitcases and then started to take a step forward when he realized that the little girl still had a death grip on his leg. Looking down at her, he offered her his hand and she took hold of it and held on for dear life, but went even farther by reaching out for 'Aunt Sam's' hand. To Jack, it just seemed that the little girl wanted someone to hold onto right now and he was more than willing to be that person.

When they got to the SUV that he had borrowed from the SGC motor pool, he opened the back and put the luggage inside, and opened the back door to the vehicle to allow the rest of the Carters to get in.

----

When the group arrived at Sam's house, there were already two vehicles there, one Jack knew belonged to Daniel and the other, Jack presumed, belonged to Pete.

Entering the house, they found Daniel and Teal'c already sitting in the living room. Pete was there too, but the fourth man was a surprise to them all.

"General Hammond, I wasn't expecting to see you here." exclaimed Mark.

"Jacob was one of my oldest and best friends, the least I could do is being here to pay my respects," explained the older General as he got up to greet the new arrivals.

Greetings and introductions were traded all around, much of which included the obligatory condolences, until they got to Teal'c who graced those present with a large amount of words for the usually silent man.

"I wish to offer my condolences on the loss of Jacob Carter. He was a formable warrior and will be sorely missed. My people owe him a great deal. I promise to you that his death will not be forgotten, nor the contributions he has made."

Sam was the first to respond with a hug for the giant man, along with a kiss for his cheek. "Thank you," she said.

"It was an honor to work with you and your father, Colonel Carter. I have grown to consider you a sister."

"And you're like my brother, Teal'c" confirmed Sam, wiping tears from her eyes as Teal'c's kind words.

Attempting to break the tension in the room and draw the attention away from Sam, Jack asked "So anyone ready for pizza?"

----

Author's note: Thanks to all of you who reviewed! Also thanks to my beta KrisK! The next two or three chapters will be flashbacks of the time around Jacob Carter's death.


	21. Jacob Carter's funeral

The conversation that night was light and happy for the most part, but Mark noticed how protective her sister's teammates were. One was always at her side, continuously shooting anyone, who even slightly upset her, looks that would cause most people to drop dead. Luckily most of them caught on after it happened a few times, except Pete.

Mark was shocked at how his friend seemed to hover around his sister to the point that he smothered her. He was surprised that his Sam didn't just kick the man out, but to he supposed that she was just trying to appease her soon to be husband.

Overall, though, Mark thought the evening went well. The four friends offered up what he judged to be the 'non-classified' version of events that they had experienced with Jacob. His kids even enjoyed the stories of their grandpa. Although he wasn't sure if Izzy liked it because she understood the stories or because she enjoyed the interaction she had with the man whose lap she refused to leave.

The fact that the sliver-haired General didn't seemed bothered by the presence of a rambunctious three year old, but in fact was enjoying it, surprised him. His initial impression of military men as being uncaring was blown away by the way this man treated his family.

The biggest surprise for Mark, though, came when Maggie announced that it was bed time for her children and Izzy had almost danced around the room giving every adult in the room a kiss and hug goodnight except Pete, who she refused to go near.

Before she could leave the room and be ushered upstairs, she turned to the older man and asked, "Uwcle Jack will you be here tomorrow?"

The brief surprise that crossed his face was quickly hidden by his military façade and then he smiled, "I'll be here, I promise".

The little girl quickly dashed up the stairs before he could change his mind.

Daniel took the opportunity to turn to his best friend and tease, "So Uncle Jack, can I have some ice cream now?"

The Jack shot him a glare and said sternly, "No Danny, you may not and you're not getting a dog either so quit asking."

The whole group burst out laughing.

General Hammond took the friendly teasing as a cue for him to leave and bid everyone good night, along with Daniel and Teal'c who were also riding with him. They all took the time to give Sam warm hugs and whisper something in her ear. They also exchanged quiet words with Jack and then left with a "see you tomorrow".

Pete followed close behind, shaking hands with Mark, and then giving his fiancé a hug and a peck on the cheek before closing the front door behind him.

Jack took this opportunity to talk with Mark and Sam as he helped them clean up the mess left by the impromptu party. "Mark, I don't know if Carter told you, but your dad had me make the arrangements for the funeral tomorrow. And the wake afterwards will be held at my house. I know that Jacob didn't request anyone to speak, but General Hammond, myself, and Carter will all being saying something tomorrow. I didn't know if you also wanted to say anything, because it can be arranged for you to do so, if you want."

"I don't think that will be necessary. I'm sure whatever you three have to say will be more than enough," Mark said.

"I also wanted you to know that tomorrow's service will be military at Jacob's request. I hope that you can respect his request," further explained Jack.

With a nod of his head, Mark said, "I can live with his dedication to his country. For a long time my relationship with my father was horrible, practically non-existent but ever since he started working with you, Sam, and the rest of your team, something about him changed - for the better. The military may have kept me from my father for many years, but at the same time it also gave me my father back. I made my peace with the military several years ago. Besides, I can't stay mad forever, I'm afraid that my sister might kick my butt if I do," the man eventually admitted.

"Too true, Carter can even give me a run for my money," admitted Jack. "Seriously though, your farther was a good man, one of the best I've ever had the opportunity to serve with and someone that I will always respect and hold in high regard."

"Thank you," Mark replied again shaking hands with the man who obviously respected his father a great deal.

"Yes, thank you, sir," added Sam and she permitted herself to be enfolded in a Jack O'Neill hug that surprised Mark. That one hug seemed to convey more emotion than the hug and kiss from Pete.

When they parted, Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets rocked on his feet and then walked to the door. With one hand on the door to open it, he turned back and looked at Sam and said, "If you need anything, call me, okay?"

"Yes, sir," she replied with a smile on her face that let him know that her response was all in jest.

And with that, Jack O'Neill opened the door and stepped out into the night, closing the door behind him.

----

The next day's funeral service was one filled with kind words and stories about a Jacob Carter that Mark had never known. The room was filled with men and women in dress uniforms, and he was introduced to several generals. Even his sister had on her dress blues with a shocking number of medals. And the two generals that he had shared a meal with the previous evening also had quite a bit of hardware pinned to their chests. Mark couldn't figure out how Jack managed to stand up straight with the number of medals that he wore.

He was surprised when a man, who Sam obviously knew, a major she warmly addressed as "Paul", walked over and offered his hand to Mark. He nodded his head to Sam and informed them both that "the President sends his condolences", which shocked him to no end, but seemed no come as no surprise to Sam. Paul then offered his arm to Sam and led them to the waiting limo.

The graveside service seemed to draw an even larger crowd. The typical military protocol was followed, from the 21 gun salute to the folding of the flag which Jack accepted and approached Sam, saluted and handed her the carefully folded flag. She accepted the flag and with her military façade firmly in place, returned the salute.

Jack then walked over to join the line of other military personnel and took his spot between Daniel and General Hammond as taps were played. Mark noticed that not a single tear fell from his sister's face.

At the completion of the service, more men and women filed past him, offering the Carter family their condolences on the death of a fine man. He never even noticed that his children gravitated away from him and to his sister's three teammates. His son had found some sort of camaraderie with the tall African-American while his middle child found Ancient Egypt to be fascinating.

But his youngest had the general with silver hair wrapper around her finger, because she was already in his arms giggling like there was no tomorrow as he carried her over. When he reached the group Izzy reached out for her aunt, to plant a kiss on her cheek before again wrapping her arms around Jack's neck.

Once the last of the non-family had left, Jack led the way to the waiting limos with the young girl still in his arms.

----

Thanks for all the great reviews for last chapter. As always, props to by great beta KrisK.


	22. Does anyone like Pete?

After the funeral, everyone gathered at Jack's house for the wake. Mark was still in shock with the number of people who continued to approach him and telling him how great his father was. He thought, 'it wasn't like he had saved the world or anything'.

The other thing that surprised him was how Izzy, had refused to leave Jack's side. Most of the military personnel had changed out of the dress uniforms. Even Izzy had managed to shed her dress and was now sitting in Jack's lap as they shared a piece of cake.

The only time Izzy had allowed Jack to leave was when Sam approached the two earlier and she had crawled into her lap. The fact that Sam had come bearing a piece of cake was probably the reason. It was quickly becoming apparent that Izzy had a sweet tooth that matched Jack's. Jack had left the table with a cell phone to his ear and had moved somewhere to have a quiet conversation. When he had returned, he had whispered a few words into Sam's ear before sitting back down.

----

Later that evening after all the guests had left except the Carters, Daniel, Teal'c, General Hammond, Jack, and Pete. The kids were all in the living room playing on Jack's game system, even Izzy had been convinced that she "needed practice so that she could beat Uncle Jack later."

This left the adults to enjoy a quiet moment outside on the deck. This was where General Hammond made his announcement.

"I've decided to retire," he informed the group.

The declaration came as a bit of a surprise. Yet no one had anything but well wishes for him. Congratulations were heard by all until Daniel finally asked the question that was obviously on everyone's mind, "Sir, who will be replacing you?"

This was Jack's turn to speak, "That would be me."

If everyone had been shocked at Hammond's announcement, there was utter disbelief expressed at Jack's news.

"Jack?"

"O'Neill"

Yet Mark noticed that Sam had no comment to make. Instead, she was staring at her the ring on her finger, her engagement ring.

It was Teal'c who finally noticed that Sam had made no comment; "Colonel Carter, does it not worry you that O'Neill will be leaving our base?" questioned Teal'c who was carefully choosing his words due to the presence of the Carter family, and Pete - who didn't have total clearance.

"No guys, General O'Neill informed me of his transfer this afternoon" explained Sam.

Everyone just let that news sink in. Pete was the first one to speak saying, "Well congratulations, General. It sounds like the transfer will be a good career move."

The silence that followed that comment was deafening.

It was at this point that Sam got up and walked away from the gathering, heading around the side of Jack's house and disappearing from site.

"Way to go Pete! My sister just lost her father, and now one of her closest friends is being transferred across the country, and the best you can up with is 'it's a good career move.' Remind me again why she's marrying you?" exclaimed an angry Mark Carter.

The surprised looks that came his way made him realize that he wasn't the only one was questioning Sam's choice of a fiancé.

Pete obviously realized that he had said the wrong thing when he looked at Mark and asked "should I go after her?"

His answer was a "no" three times over.

"Leave her alone for awhile and then let someone else go get her. If that person returns unharmed, then and only then should you chance trying to talk to her" Jack said knowingly.

"I take it you have experience in that department?" Mark asked.

"Yes"

"Un-huh"

"Indeed"

After sitting in silence for a short while, General Hammond asked "So whose turn is it this time?" The looks he received in return caused the man to chuckle. "Did you think I didn't know that you took turns? Even I knew not cross Sam Carter on a bad day!"

This comment brought chuckles through the entire group, except Pete.

Pete was slightly angered with these people, who called themselves Sam's friends, and yet talked about her like that, so he decided that since no one else was going to talk to her, he might as well. _'After all,'_ he thought to himself, _'I'm her fiancé, I should be able to calm her down'._

----

One rather loud, though unintelligent conversation later, Pete and Sam returned to the group, Pete trailing slightly behind Sam with a shocked expression on his face.

Needless to say, Mark wasn't surprised when she announced to everyone that 'they' had agreed to put the wedding on hold for now. Even with the excuse she gave, he knew that there was more to the story then just not being ready "to have a wedding without my father there to walk me down the aisle" as she had so eloquently put it.

Unfortunately, Izzy just happened to hear that the wedding wasn't taking place and she had to ask "But Aunt Sam I wanna be a fwower girw."

To which Sam was unsure of how to respond, but thankfully Jack knew just what to say because he reached over and scooped the girl off her feet and into his lap once more and claimed "I'm sure that whenever Aunt Sam decides to have her wedding, she'll make sure that she tells you so that you can be there."

Mark wasn't sure if the smile that was on Sam's face was to reassure the young girl that this was true or in gratitude for the man whose lap Izzy was sitting on, but it didn't matter because it did the trick, Isabelle Faith Carter was once again smiling.

//End Flashback//

If there was one thing Sam had to be worried about, it was how easily Izzy had been able to wrap her CO, _'no former CO' _she reminded herself, around her finger.

'_I bet he would make a great dad,' _she thought. And for the first time in a long while, she began to again picture a girl named Grace who for some reason looked quite a bit like what she always imagined a child of Sam Carter and Jack O'Neill.

----

Author's note: Thanks to all of you for your great reviews, they really make my day! Special thanks to my beta KrisK who makes my stories shine!


	23. More time with the Carters

When Jack approached the blanket where the Carter family and Cameron Mitchell were currently seated, he announced his presence. "I heard that you were having lunch, so I thought I'd bring this sack of potatoes and join you," he joked, indicating the little girl still thrown over his shoulder.

"General O'Neill, I'm so sorry, she just disappeared on us," apologized Maggie as she got up and attempted to take the girl from him.

He just waved her off with his free arm and smiled, "Not a problem, she saved me from having to sit through some informal politics all afternoon."

"Yes sir, and everyone knows how much you love politics, almost as much as you love paperwork," sarcastically responded Sam who had now returned to the group.

"So I guess you found her, Sam?" Cam teased.

"Yep, right where I thought she'd be too," responded Sam. "And I managed to find one more for lunch too."

The group sat down and had an uneventful meal, enjoying each other's company and laughter. They were eating cake when Mark finally touched on the subject that everyone had avoided the entire meal, "I think I owe you both an apology, and probably a very big thank you," he offered, indicating both Jack and Sam.

"Huh?"

"What?"

They both asked at the same time.

"You're job was saving the world, and you couldn't tell anyone about it. Just to think about all those times I called Sam and complained because she wasn't around often enough or she missed a scheduled visit, or even criticized Dad, and you guys were on another planet. I'm just sorry that I didn't know and that I was so hard on you."

Sam laid a hand on her brother's arm to stop him. She took a deep breath, looked at him and said, "I know that I don't regret ever doing my job. Yes, there were times when I wanted so badly to tell you what I really did,, but I couldn't, just like dad couldn't tell you where he was all the time. It wasn't one of the things I particularly liked, but it was something that came with the job and I accepted that."

"But still, I need to say I'm sorry", renewed Mark.

"Apology accepted and you're forgiven," offered Sam, leaning over to give her brother a hug.

Andrew chose that opportunity to ask a question that had been bothering him all afternoon, "So what is the coolest thing you guys have ever done?"

Sam turned to Jack, silently seeking permission to continue, getting a nod from him she asked, "Well what do you classify as being cool?"

"Blowing things up and beating the bad guys of course."

Laughter littered the air as Maggie shook her head, embarrassed that her son would say such a thing.

"Well, I've really only got one story to tell, and Sam and Jack were both involved, am I allowed to tell that story, sir?" requested Mitchell.

"How about I start?" smiled Jack.

With a resounding "Yes" from everyone, especially the dark-haired girl who had just climbed into his lap, he began. The three Air Force officers spent the next hour relegating the Carter family with the story of the final battle with Anubis. They each, of course, down played their part in the battle and just how close to death they had all really come.

By the time Mitchell had crashed and 'Colonel O'Neill' was in stasis in Antarctica, little Izzy was trying desperately to stay awake, not wanting to miss any part of the story. Realizing this, Jack paused the story there. "All right kids, that's all for now, someone needs a nap," he claimed looking at the girl in his lap.

"But Uwcle Jack, I wanna know how the stowy ends" objected the little girl, "and I don't wanna nap!"

"You know that we all made it out alive, and I am the one who needs the nap, I'm getting to be old," replied Jack, who stood up and began gathering the picnic items up.

"Sir, you are not old. An old man wouldn't be capable of keeping up with all those recruits like you'll be doing over the next few weeks" Sam reminded him.

"Oh don't remind me Carter. Part of the deal with me getting to go through the 'gate means I have to train the recruits. According to Hammond, I have a 'fountain of knowledge and experience' that needs to be passed on to more than just my team."

"Your team, sir?" asked Mitchell. "Are you going to command a team again?"

Jack let out a wistful sigh before replying, "Unfortunately, no. The only time I'll get out in the field again is with the new recruits or in situations where my 'expertise' is specifically required," implying that his expertise would be with Ancient Technology which was still considered classified knowledge.

The three officers said their good-byes to the Carter family, promising that they would see them later that evening at the old fashion BBQ and dance that would be taking place in the middle of the camp.

Cam was silent for a while before stating, "Well sir, let me the first to say that I look forward to being on the receiving end of your knowledge and expertise as I'll be one of those recruits out there on Monday."

"Thanks Cam, I just hope that I can live up to everyone's expectations. After all, there's going to be 50 recruits, none of which are right out of the Academy but only a few actually have 'gate experience and they're all looking for spots on the 5 SG teams. When it comes time for the first 'cut', I hope you still think as highly of me and the team I've put together for the training and evaluation."

After reassuring him that the he would and that he expected nothing less from the General, Mitchell said his good-byes and left Jack and Sam to continue their walk back to the base alone.

Sam let the silence continue as they passed through the center of camp where party preparations were underway. "Cam's right, sir, you know what you're doing and are an expert at it, and I'm sure that whatever team of evaluators you put together will make the right choice in selecting future team members," Sam claimed.

"Glad you think so, Carter," smirked Jack. "Since you're on the evaluation team. In fact, all of the evaluators, myself excluded, are the current SG team leaders. I figure if you have to work with them, you deserve the opportunity to choose who they are. Landry will be informing the others in an official meeting Monday morning, so you know, keep it quiet it 'til then."

"Wow! Thank you, sir, I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting to keep my command of SG-1" replied Carter.

"Carter! Why, did you think you would lose command of a team?" questioned Jack.

"Honestly? There are a whole slew of Colonels on the base now and I'm not one of the most senior ones. Add to that my scientific knowledge and I figured that I would be relegated to the base" replied a nervous Sam.

"Carter, you are one of the most experienced officers when it comes to dealing with the Stargate, add that to the fact that not every Colonel on base wanted to continue 'gate travel. Quite a few are going to be taking command positions on base serving as commanders of security teams and such and a couple will become instructors at the Academy. Most of them actually asked to be removed from field positions, claiming they wanted to be around their families more. You have nothing to worry about, your position as commander of SG-1 was always secure, besides, who else would they get to watch out for Daniel?" quipped the General.

----

Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone for their great reviews, and as always to KrisK for being my beta. If you like this story, I suggest you check out my newest story _Sam and Jack at college, kinda _which has nothing to do with the current story. It's set between the first mission to Abydos and season one in an AU. Just give it a chance, please! I promise that I am not abandoning this story as it is already finished and being posted as my beta finishes with it. So if you have the time and want some more Sam/Jack, check out _Sam and Jack at college, kinda._


	24. More time with the Carters part 2

At the base-wide BBQ later that night, Sam and Jack met up with Daniel, who had returned from an off world mission to the Land of the Light. They were quickly joined by Cameron Mitchell.

The whole table knew the Carter family had arrived when Izzy leaped in Jack's lap, and asked, upon seeing his piece of cake, "Where's mine?" Everyone laughed heartedly.

A short time later, Cassie stopped by the table and pulled Sam away saying quietly that they needed to 'talk'.

Walking away from the party area, Cassie asked an important question, "Are you still engaged to Pete?"

To which Sam happily responded "No."

Cassie let out a deep breathe that she didn't realize she had been holding, "Good I don't think he was the right guy for you."

The two girls quickly divulged into 'girl talk', catching up on what had gone on in each other's lives since they last talked. After making plans for lunch the following weekend, the two returned to the table where Cassie volunteered herself and Daniel to go for drinks for the group.

Once they were far enough away from the table, Cassie asked Daniel, "Did you know that Sam ended her the engagement with Pete?"

Daniel had fortunately already heard the news from Jack, and gave the younger girl a watered down version of the events.

Cassie then wondered out loud, "What will it take for the two of them to finally get together?"

Daniel just shook his head at her, "You can't choose who people fall in love with any more than you can force them to do something about it," remembering a previous incident in which him and Cassie had a very similar conversation.

//Flashback//

Cassie and Daniel were solemnly riding in his car on the way back to the Air Force Academy, having just left Sam and Pete's engagement party.

Cassie finally broke the silence and asked, "Has anyone told her she's making a big mistake by marrying him?"

"Cassie," Daniel began but made it no farther as the girl interrupted.

"No, he's a jerk. Rather than letting her talk with us tonight, he paraded her around like a show dog or something in front of his friends, hardly ever letting her get more than an arm length away and every time some guy from the SGC came up and offered her congratulations, he looked like he was going to pop a vein because he was grounding his teeth together so hard. That man is way too possessive for someone like Sam."

"Cassie," Daniel finally managed to interrupt, "How many times have we told you that we didn't like the boy you were dating?"

Already knowing where this conversation was going, Cassie admitted quietly, "Lots."

"Any how many of those times did we force you to break up with the guy?"

"Never," sighed Cassie.

"That's right. No matter how badly we wanted to keep you from getting hurt, we always let you make your own mistakes, and you did make mistakes. Even if we think Sam is making a mistake, we can't stop her. Part of being someone's friend is supporting them, even when we think that person is about to make a mistake" explained Daniel.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, or him, do I?" asked Cassie.

"No it doesn't, hun, no it doesn't" said Daniel who was thinking, _'because you aren't the only one who doesn't like the guy and thinks that Sam is making a mistake'._

//End flashback//

"Cassie, don't do anything rash okay? If they decide to pursue a relationship, let them do it in their own time. After everything they've been through, the last thing they need is someone watching them all the time. I think it's been bad enough for them these eight years, when they've been forced to watch every little thing that they do despite having nothing more than a professional relationship," reminded Daniel.

"I know," agreed Cassie.

"Okay, what do you say that we take these drinks back to the table so that everyone can enjoy the night?" offered Daniel along with a quick hug for the young woman.

----

That night, the Carter family (which now had been extended to include Cameron, Jack O'Neill, Daniel, Cassie, and Teal'c) had more fun than in any of them could recall in these recent times. Everyone was treated to a few embarrassing stories of Sam Carter's younger days, although Cameron and Mark received much of the same treatment when Mark revealed that he knew Cameron from high school, as their fathers had been stationed at the same base. Jack and Daniel even got into the story telling, offering up incidents that had happened on missions, which please Mitchell (who had read the mission reports, but these stories were not the ones included in those reports) and the Carter children to no end.

When dinner was over and the dancing began, Mitchell surprised everyone by asking Sam for her first dance of the evening. Cassie left to find friends her own age to spend the rest of the evening with.

Not wanting to be left out, the two older Carter children had no qualms about finding friends to dance with, especially Andrew who could rattle off the number of girls of each age living on base. Izzy had no idea what 'dancing' was but she gave "Uwcle Jack" the puppy dog face until he agreed to dance with her.

Eventually, even Maggie and Mark went to join the crowd on the dance floor, leaving Daniel by himself. Not one for social events, he waited until Jack returned to the table and told him he would be in his lab if he needed him, and then disappeared from the party.

As the hour grew closer to midnight, and the band took a break, the group began to gravitate back to their table. Sam literally collapsed in her chair.

"Tough evening Carter?" asked Jack.

"Yes sir, you should try having your feet stepped on all evening by nervous men who can't carry on an intelligent conversation, let alone realize that I'm Lt. Colonel in the Air Force and could probably wipe the floor with them," spat out the tired woman.

Realizing that the band had returned, and that there were several men headed their way, he held his hand out to the beautiful woman and asked "May I this dance?"

Slightly confused by his actions, considering she knew that he hated to dance, she still grabbed his hand and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. The slow number that played allowed him to place his hand on her waist, and her hands on his shoulder as they swayed to the music, keeping a respectful distance between them at all times. When the song ended, he dropped his hands to his side and followed her back to their table.

Once there, he noticed that Izzy was curled up in her mother's arms, although as soon as she saw that Jack was back, she moved into his lap. Maggie noticed that she was almost asleep and told her to say goodnight, that it was bed time.

The little girl looked at her mother and said, "Can Uwcle Jack tuck me in?"

Realizing that nothing short of a galactic emergency was going to convince the girl that 'Uwcle Jack' couldn't tuck her in, Jack quickly assured the couple that he would be more than happy to put the girl to bed. Sam jumped in and offered to go get Andrew and Josie and usher them to bed, promising that one or both of them would remain at the tent until the couple returned.

Maggie and Mark, not having had much 'alone time' since arriving to the Beta site, quickly accepted the offer and thanked the two profusely for taking the children back to their tent and being willing to wait with them until they got there.

And that was how Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter ended up walking away together and tucking the three Carter children into bed that night.

----

AN: Thanks for all your great reviews and as always, special thanks to KrisK, my excellent beta.


	25. A Promise for the Future

_And that was how Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter ended up walking away together and tucking the three Carter children into bed that night._

The two adults took the kids to the community bathroom where the kids cleaned up and went to the restroom before heading for their family tent. Sam finished with Izzy first and offered to take her back and get her ready for bed while Jack waited on the other two, who certainly were capable of getting ready for bed without assistance.

The tent the Carter family had been assigned was made for a team of six, so fitting five sleeping people in was no problem, especially as two were under the age of ten.

Sam was getting Izzy out of her dirty clothes when the girl turned to her aunt and innocently asked, "Aunt Sam, are wou gonna mawwy Uwcle Jack?"

For a second Sam was sure how to respond to the little girl, so she continued helping her change clothes. Finally she decided on the truth, "Izzy, Jack and I are just friends, really good friends, but we're not getting married right now."

"Don't you wove Uwcle Jack?"

This time, Sam was slightly more prepared for the question, although still shocked by the innocence of the girl and replied while looking at the girl in her little Pooh Bear shirt. "Of course I love Uncle Jack, in the same way I love Daniel and Teal'c and how you love Andrew or Josie. He's one of my best friends," Sam had to admit to herself that the statement wasn't quite true, but the little girl didn't need to know that. Luckily their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the other kids and Jack.

Izzy crawled into her bag and Jack crawled over to give her a kiss goodnight and she asked, "Do I get a stowy?"

Never one to resist a child, especially Izzy, Jack smiled and sat down before starting a story all about the first mission that he and Daniel had gone on to Abydos. Even though Sam had heard small stories about the mission, and read the report, she had never heard his version of events. She, too, became so entertained in the story that she failed to notice when all three of the children had dropped off to sleep. When he got to the end he leaned down and dropped one more kiss on the little girl's forehead, before following Sam out of the tent.

They sat down outside of the tent, not too close together, but not too far apart either.

After some comfortable silence, Sam spoke, "You know, Izzy asked me an interesting question tonight."

"She did?"

"Yeah, she wanted to know if I was going to marry 'Uwcle Jack'," said Sam.

The deer in the headlights look that Jack gave her caused her to burst into laughter.

"She did?" he questioned.

"Yes, she did."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that you and I were friends, really good friends, and that we weren't getting married right now," answered Sam.

"Good," replied Jack.

"Good?" questioned Sam.

"Yeah, you said right now, which means that there is a possibility for the future…" he trailed off kind of waiting to see how she would respond to that statement. When she stayed silent for so long, he figured he had overstepped the bounds of their friendship and immediately began to ramble, "What I mean is that I'm still interested in, I mean, I still 'care about you a lot more than I'm supposed to' and I probably always will, but if that's not what you want, I'll survive and I can handle just being friends-"

At this point, Sam laid a hand on his arm, interrupting him from going any farther. She took a deep breath and began to speak, "I don't think I'm ready to see if that will work, yet," she glanced at him and saw him nod, as if understanding what yet meant. She took another deep breath and continued, "I think that Sam and Jack need to get to know each other a little bit better, we both know that the General and the Colonel know each other really well, but I want to know Jack. And I don't think that I'm ready for another relationship yet," she finally admitted.

Looking into her eyes, he accepted the words she had just said with a nod of his head and asked, "Then just promise that when you're ready for a relationship, I'll be the first to know."

"I think I can handle that one," she replied with a smile.

Before the conversation could go any farther though, Mark and Maggie returned, both smiling and thanked them for putting the children to bed. The two officers, waved their goodbyes to the couple and turned to walk towards the base, letting a comfortable silence settle between them until they reached the quarters that they shared with the rest of SG-1, silently Jack opened the door to allow Sam to enter first and without any words between the two of them, they took turns changing clothes in the bathroom and slipped off to the land of sleep, both thinking happy thoughts and dreaming of the possibilities the future held for them.

----

AN: Thanks for being so patient as my beta and I work on polishing up this stories. Your reviews keep me writing!


	26. Training Announced

Although Sunday was a planned day of downtime for most people, the command staff used Sunday afternoons and evenings for meetings. Today's meeting was especially important as she would officially be receiving her new orders, even if she knew part of those orders, she was curious as to what else was in store for her.

A typical command staff meeting involved every officer of the rank of Colonel along with one or two of the Generals, along with a few civilian heads such as Dr. Lam or Daniel in attendance. Today's meeting was no different except every General was present along with the President. When the last chair was filled, General Hammond called the meeting to order and began explaining the modified command structure that had been developed by the Generals in the past week. He answered a few questions that popped up and dealt with a few other issues that these meetings always seemed to bring out. After that, he began issuing orders to the Colonels who fell into certain areas of the command structure.

Once he had given orders to those men, (Sam had been quick to notice that she was the only female military officer in the room, in fact she was the highest ranking female officer on base), he dismissed them from the room, informing them that their specific General would have further orders prepared for them when they reported the following morning.

When he reached the end and had dismissed all but a few of the Colonels, all of whom would report to either General Landry or General O'Neill, he dismissed the civilians from the room, explaining that they had no need to stay for the remainder of the meeting, and along with them went the President and all of the Generals but Landry, O'Neill and Hammond.

Hammond then turned to the 15 Colonels left in the room and told them all, "those of you who are left are obviously either reporting to General O'Neill or General Landry. Five of you have already been informed by either General Landry or General O'Neill that you will be receiving command of an SG team."

This led to them all taking quick looks around the room, as if trying to determine who those five people were, but no one's face seemed to give anything away. "As per your orders, you have not informed anyone of who you are and you will continue to not tell anyone. Tomorrow all 15 of you will report at 0900 hours for training with General O'Neill and the other new recruits, totaling a batch of 50 people."

"At the same time, General O'Neill will lay out the plans to all of you for the future structure of the SG teams. Tomorrow's training will involve military personnel who, for the most part, have never been on an SG team. After General O'Neill manages to wash out as many as he can, the remaining people will be joined in training by the civilians and those military personnel who have 'gate experience."

"The training timeline has tentatively been planned to take two months and include several trips off world. There is no way that everyone who wants to be on a team can possibly be accommodated, but at the same time, there will be plenty of opportunities for all of you to travel off world even if you fail to receive a permanent position on a team. Any questions for General O'Neill?"

The silence that followed answered this question, so General O'Neill stood up and stated, "Good then, I'll see you all tomorrow morning at 0900 on the training field. Dismissed."

----

Monday morning came, and Sam and Jack awoke to someone knocking on the door of their quarters.

Jack swung the door open, asking "What?" to see Walter standing there.

"General is Colonel Carter here? Something is wrong with the gate and her expertise is needed immediately."

Sam had already begun pulling her clothes and boots on when someone had knocked on the door. After all, very few people would be brave enough to knock on the door of a General and a Lt. Colonel this early in the morning, as a glance at her watch showed it to 0523, a little more than 30 minutes before the two of them usually woke up.

"I'm coming Walter," she called, as she headed for the door, being well practiced in waking up and dressing in a hurry, especially after her time at the SGC. Not for the first time, Sam wished that she hadn't suggested they use a dialing computer rather than the DHD on the Beta site, although she had to admit that it did increase the security on the base as not just anyone could dial up a planet. In fact, she recalled the iris was scheduled to be installed today, having been removed the previous week from the original SGC Stargate that had arrived with the Daedalus.

Several hours and cups of coffee later, she glanced at her watch and told Siler, "I think you can take it from here, I'd due to report in for recruit training in 20. If you need me, send someone to get me".

Siler nodded and thanked her for her help, as she jogged off, heading for the new training field. She arrived in plenty of time, and noted all the personnel gathered there, and the distinctive lack of female personnel.

'_Of course' _she reminded herself, _'this is essentially a pure military group, most women don't go into the military to just be soldiers'._

She noticed that many of the recruits, mostly the lower ranked officers were looking at her, but even a few of the Majors, and a couple of the Colonels who she didn't recognize were starring at her. She could almost hear their whispers asking what she was doing here. It wasn't new to her, but it would only get worse, she reminded herself once they found out that she knew the General.

Dismissing those thoughts from her mind, she walked over to where Cam was standing with a young man that she didn't recognize, although noticed that he seemed rather familiar.

When she got closer, she realized just who he was, he stood at attention at offered her a half-hearted, sloppy salute, something that the original had been known for, and said "Colonel Carter, it will be a pleasure to work with you again" and offered her the trademark cheeky O'Neill grin.

She returned the salute replied, "Yes it will, Jonathan", and also giving him a smile.

Turning to Cam, she questioned, "So any word about what's going on here yet?"

"Nope, we're just waiting for the General to arrive. The consensus is that we're in for an interesting adventure though".

The young man standing with them chuckled and said, "If I know myself, then interesting won't even begin to describe it. By the way guys, I'd appreciate it if you kept my relationship with the General under wraps, it's considered 'need to know' and…"

"None of these guys need to know" finished Cam, nodding his assurance that he would remain silent.

At that time though, Colonel Dave Dixon noticed the approach of two individuals, one of which looked like the General, and as the senior most officer, called out "Attention" and the group scrambled to form up ranks as the men approached.

----


	27. Training Begins

The General approached the group with Lt. Colonel Louis Ferretti who, after being injured on a mission two or three years back, had agreed to head the SGC recruit training program at the Academy. Sam hadn't seen him in quite a while but was on the receiving end of a Ferretti grin as he stood next to the General.

"At ease," the General called, coming to a stop in front of the group, "And Good morning. I hope you are all prepared for today's activities because there is a lot to be done over the next few weeks. Before we go any farther though, I feel the need to lay out some rules and do some introductions. For those of you who do not know, I am Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, former commander of SG-1 and the SGC, and the man in charge of deciding which of you will be receiving places on SG teams and which of you will be assigned to other positions. Next to me is Lt. Colonel Louis Ferretti who, on Earth, was the head of the SGC training program that Academy after leading SG-2 for several years. He also went on the original mission to Abydos with me. He has so graciously accepted a position on my training staff and for the next two months, give or take, you all will have the pleasure of our company, if you remain in the program that is," he claimed stressing the 'if'.

Silence swept through the crowd with that comment.

"Yeah, you heard right, my job is to get as many of you as possible to convince yourselves to leave so that I don't have to cut you. There are currently 50 of you, and I need to cut that down to at least 25 in a month because that's when this group will be joined by the civilians and the military personnel with gate experience. With the exception of 5 people here who hold the rank of Lt. Colonel or Colonel who are going to be the team leaders of the 5 new teams, no one here has earned their spot. The team leaders know who they are and have been instructed to not tell you. The only clue I will give you as to who those people are is that they had prior knowledge of the SGC and our operations. They don't even know who the other four team leaders are."

"Furthermore, with the exception of SG-3, which will be an all military team, all other teams will be split 50/50, half of the team concentrating on the science areas, half on keeping everyone there safe. The current plan is to have 5 10 member teams, meaning we need 50 people. That basically means that we have at most 5 positions open on 4 teams and 10 spots on SG-3 for the 45 of you who are trying to get on a team, considering 5 of you have already been assigned. But I warn you, don't forget that some of the people joining us in a month will also be vying for those military positions."

"At this time I'll let each of you introduce yourselves. State your name, rank, and your previous posting. Dave?"

At that time Dave Dixon took a few steps forward to stand next Ferretti, and began the introduction, "Colonel Dave Dixon, leader of SG-13". Several other Colonels took the opportunity to introduce themselves before it was Sam's turn.

She stepped up next to the General, and stated proudly, "Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, leader of SG-1" several people traded glances and a murmur went up through the crowd at this fact, that O'Neill permitted a female to be the leader of the flagship team, and several of them wondered how that had happened.

General O'Neill held out a hand for attention and stated, "For the record, while Colonel Carter is known for her scientific expertise, she has earned the right to be here just like each of you. I suggest that you treat her with the respect that she deserves otherwise I would be happy to watch her wipe the floor with you". The laughter that greeted him told him that no one really believed him that she was capable of doing such a thing. He looked at her and shrugged.

Ferretti glanced at her and said, "Well, Sam, he tried to warn them at least".

The introductions continued, moving quickly through the Majors and Captains until they reached the few Lieutenants who were present.

When they reached Jonathan, he stepped forward and stated, "Lieutenant Jonathan O'Neill, NORAD". Very few people even noticed the glance that the two O'Neills traded, and the ones that did chose to ignore it.

Once the introductions were finished, General O'Neill began to speak again, "As you can tell, most of you did not have experience with the SGC, prior to arrival on this planet and there are several different branches of the Armed services represented here. This means that not only do you need to be given Stargate travel 101 along with learning all about how the SGC operates and you need to know mesh your different military service together. There are many rules which you will learn about how we work and what we do and do not do. I do not expect you to be perfect, in fact I expect you to make mistakes, but part of determining if you will get a spot on one of these teams is who you respond to those mistakes you make."

"The plan for the next few weeks puts you in the class room in the mornings, being on the receiving end of lectures. The few of you with previous experience with the SGC are excused from those lectures if your presence is requested elsewhere. The rest of you are required to be at these lectures. This will be your introduction to many of the people, weapons, aliens, allies, enemies, and all things that relate to 'gate travel. The afternoons will be spent in scenarios. You will also have the opportunity to travel through the Stargate. My first suggestion is that you get acclimated to the people around you, because they will be the ones joining you for the next two months."

"Now onto today's morning activity, a physical fitness test. If you can't pass this test, you will immediately be dismissed from the training program" finished the General.

Just then an Airman approached the group at a dead run, he stopped in front of Carter, completely ignoring the General and stated, "Colonel Carter, Sergeant Siler has requested your presence". A quick glance at the General, and receiving a nod, she turned to leave as the General yelled after her, "Lunch is at 1200 Carter in the civilian mess hall, try and not work through it". She lifted a hand in response and continued on towards the base at a quick jog.

Turning his attention back to the rest of the recruits, he said "Now gentlemen, I believe we have test for you this morning".

----

Sam actually beat the General and the recruits to the civilian mess hall, although she wondered why they were eating there rather than the military mess hall inside the base. When the General arrived, with a band of tired recruits following, he stopped and turned to face them all before entering the building.

She noticed that pretty much everyone grew quiet when he began to speak, demonstrating the respect that the group had already managed to acquire for the man, which frankly didn't surprise her.

He turned to them and began to speak "Today is the only day that I'm ordering you to eat lunch here, but I suggest that you get to know each other. Find out about each other because if you become part of an SG team, your family grows larger as those people become your family. And those families are the reason that we go out there and do what we do" he claimed as his speech was interrupted by a little girl who flew into his leg and fell to the ground as she screeched, "Uwcle Jack".

He reached down to pick the girl up off the ground, grinning for the first time all day, and said "like I said, this is the reason we do what we're doing. Report back to the training field at 1300 until then you're dismissed".

Sam quickly approached the young girl who was giggling as the General tickled her. "Where did you escape from young lady?" the man asked her about the time a woman came up and approached the General, glaring at Izzy.

She said, "Isabelle, that's where you got off to. You shouldn't be bothering General O'Neill, he has more important things to do than be bothered by little kids".

To this the General looked at the lady and said, "I believe that she prefers to be called Izzy, and she is eating lunch with me today, and is welcome to do so whenever she would like" sending her one of his patented 'I'm a General in the U.S. Air Force, don't mess me with' looks. He then opened the door and followed his troops inside.

----

After lunch the group of trainees met at the training field before proceeding into the base where they went to the armory and watched as the General and a few of the Colonels gathered various weapons and pieces of equipment. They then went to the shooting range which was inside the base.

Once there, General O'Neill began with the weapons which would be most familiar to the group, the P-90's and handguns. He then lifted up a weapon, which looked like a P-90 and stated "And this is an initar, the weapons you will be using for training purposes".

One of the Captains, who was proving to be quite the jokester of the group replied, "Sir, that looks quite a bit like a P-90".

Being the man that he was, the General replied, "Yeah, but does a P-90 do this?" He then turned and fired the weapon, the whole group watching as it spit out red laser-like bullets at the target. The trainees grew quiet instantly, suddenly realizing that they were dealing with something new and different.

"Lesson number one," stated the General, "everything is not always as it seems". He went on to demonstrate the zats and even a staff weapon before calling Carter forward with the box she had retrieved from the safe in her lab earlier.

"The device I'm about to show you is extremely dangerous, but only in the hands of people who can actually use it, and on this planet Colonel Carter is the only one capable of doing that, although you will not be getting a demonstration of this weapon, I am personally telling you that this is one of the worst way that a Goa'uld, one of our enemies, can use to torture a person, its called a hand device" with that he lifted the device out of the box and allowed it to be passed around the room.

He then gave Carter a small nod and she pulled the other device out of the box and explained, "this device is the complete opposite of the hand device, we call a healing device, and like the hand device, I am the only one on base who could possibly make it work-unfortunately I'm not very good at it and the one time I did attempt to use it, I actually did more harm then good, which is why it isn't used very often," she explained.

"If you can't use them, why are they kept on base?" asked one of trainees.

"Because even if she doesn't use the devices, it doesn't mean that there aren't others who can" explained a voice from the back of the crowd. The group turned to look at the person, and there stood Dr. Daniel Jackson.

"Ah, Daniel come on up here" invited Jack. "Everyone this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, the man responsible for opening the Stargate, and he will become your _favorite_ guest lecturer over the course of this training program. Beginning tomorrow, Daniel and Colonel Carter will treat you to the background of the Stargate and continue on as Daniel teaches you about the ancient cultures you can expect to encounter in your travels."

While Jack continued talking, Daniel turned and whispered something into Sam's ear; she nodded her agreement and whispered something back.

Although Jack saw what was going on, he ignored it, knowing that they were probably trading some important information. Reaching the end of his speech he asked "Questions?" Not receiving a response he announced, "Then see you tomorrow in the classroom, 0900 hours. Colonels Dixon and Reynolds will see you out, all Colonels, meeting in the military mess tomorrow morning 0800 hours. Dismissed."

He then turned to Daniel, who stated, "Teal'c came back, he brought news, and they wanted both you and Sam there for a briefing."

Luckily the news that Teal'c brought was mostly good. He explained that the Free Jaffa had setup a council and had appointed him the liaison with the Tau'ri, which brought smiles to everyone's faces. Even Teal'c expressed his pleasure at being able to remain with his friends.

With the meeting over and just the original SG-1 remained, Jack asked, "So anyone hungry?" and the team went to mess hall, just like old times.

----

The next couple of days went quite well as the trainees were introduced to the ideas behind off world travel, slide shows of their allies, and even given experienced their first scenario. Jack was pleased that every 'team' had failed miserably.

The morning breakfast meetings that all of the Colonel attended became quite useful to Jack and Ferretti as they approached the first set of cuts at the end of the third day. At lunchtime of the third day, Jack invited Ferretti, Sam, and Teal'c back to his office to discuss just who they were going to cut.

By the end of the session, they had all agreed on five people that were not meeting expectations, and another five that went on the maybe list, and depending on their performance in the day's scenario, Jack would make the call on who to cut.

The next morning though found the original group of trainees cut from 50 to 40 as they met in the classroom for the pre-mission briefing for their first trip off world.


	28. Training Continues

"Today, we're visiting Orban," began General O'Neill. "Orban is a peaceful planet, and we're just there to do a check up on them. We're not expecting any trouble, and most of you will be going there without weapons with the exception of zats. Also, it is important to note there are 40 of you and only two of us so there are a few things that we need to get straight on the chain of command out there. While I am obviously the overall CO of the mission, and Ferretti is my 2IC, the other two teams will be led by Dixon and Reynolds who have off world experience. We'll be using the same teams as we did yesterday in the scenarios. There will also be a fifth group consisting of Carter, Teal'c, and Daniel who are going to be doing some culture and technology exchange. Any questions?"

The silence told him these guys just wanted to go. A quick trip to change and gear up, and the trainees were standing in the gate room.

What was starting to bother Sam was the effect she had on conversation when she walked into a room with the other trainees. Almost everyone stopped talking and would look at her, as if they were asking her to say something about their behavior. Some people had no problems talking to her, like Cam, Dixon, Reynolds, or Ferretti who had no doubt about her skills, but the other trainees pretty much ignored her. _'It doesn't help when the General in charge of the training is one of your best friends and you really haven't had to do anything to prove yourself to a room full of guys yet'_. She knew that eventually things would come to a head; she just hoped that it wouldn't be while they were on a training mission.

Luckily, things went fine on the mission. Sam was able to learn quite a bit more about their technology and even returned with a new 'doohickey' to examine, although when she would get the opportunity to do that she didn't know. Even the briefing with all the colonels and General O'Neill went off rather well as they each related their experience of the day. Sam just sat silently and listened, or at least pretended to listen as she thought about the past few days.

'_I feel like a fish out of water here. I've very rarely had to be a pure soldier; there's always been some science thing involved before where I could shine. Here I'm just the female Colonel that everyone thinks is sleeping with her CO. I'm just not sure I'm ready to command a real team.'_

Sam was so lost in thought she missed the end of the meeting and didn't even notice when everyone but Jack and Ferretti left the room.

"Sam" Ferretti called, "are you all right?"

"I don't know" she admitted, "I feel like I don't belong with this group. For the first time since I walked into a briefing room and challenged my CO to an arm wrestling match, I think that I'm in the wrong spot. I'm not hard-core military, at least not like these guys. Most of them have special ops training, and while I'm fully qualified in hand-to-hand combat, to them I'm a woman and a scientist, and I feel like I have to prove my worth.

By this time she was pacing the room. Before she could work up any more steam, Jack walked over to her, put a hand on her shoulder, and forced her to sit down in her chair. Taking the seat next to her, he began to speak.

"I think we, well mostly me, owe you an explanation," he claimed indicating himself and Ferretti. "We knew that this would be hard on you. You're right. You're not pure military like these guys; you're too smart to be just a gun toting soldier. Add to that the fact you've been forced to give briefings to a group of your peers, to the point where I think some of them might think that you're rubbing your intelligence in their faces, when you're not" he was quick to add. "You can't help how smart you are. The fact that you are the only female in the group probably doesn't make matters easier, and when everyone keeps interrupting your time as a trainee because they need your expertise probably isn't making things any easier."

"Jack and I talked about this before we decided to include the team leaders as trainees in the group, and it came down to Jack saying you would probably wipe the floor with him if he held out on letting you participate in the initial training program just because you had other things to do, and I knew he was right. You're doing fine Sam. You follow orders when they're given, and you give good orders when you are the one in charge. You have nothing to worry about" added Ferretti.

"Thanks guys, I guess I'm just starting to feel the pressure of living up to my rank" Sam claimed.

"Are the guys doing the old 'sleeping with her CO' thing again?" asked Ferretti, "Because that's getting kinda old. Everyone was saying that when I was there." He grinned and continued, "I think tomorrow's activity will gain you some respect in the field. We hit the gym tomorrow morning for some hand-to-hand combat and then we're going to spend the afternoon in the X-302s".

"Yeah, and I have you down as a pilot for the entire afternoon" added Jack.

"Really?" she questioned.

"Yeah, you designed it; I figured you were qualified to fly it. And I'm going to let Mitchell give the briefing. I'm hoping that takes some of the pressure off of you, but don't worry about it," Jack reassured her. "Give me one more week because we're moving up the timeline. The guys have picked things up faster than I thought, so we're going to bring the other military personnel in a week earlier than the civilians. Once they get started, you'll be fine. Next week's trip will be right up your ally because we're going to visit Ishta and the Free Jaffa that are on her planet."

"Is that really a good idea?" Sam asked. "I mean they already don't like me. Do you have to give them a reason to hate me?"

Jack shrugged and said, "I figured if anyone could remind them of just how deadly a female warrior could be, Ishta would be the one to do it. Besides, a two-night experience with the Jaffa is something these guys need. Orban really wasn't that different from Earth, so a couple of days with the Jaffa should be enough to convince them of the hazards of off world travel. Oh, and did I mention Bra'tac was going to be there?" Jack added.

"So flying tomorrow, huh? And then one more week with all of these guys? I guess I can handle it," Sam agreed, "after all I survived practically living with 3 guys for 7 years; it can't be that much different working with 25 more, could it?"

----

Jack thought that the next day was a huge step in helping Sam regain some confidence and in gaining the respect she so deserved from her fellow trainees.

Mitchell gave a briefing on the X-302s that held the attention of everyone in the room for the entire two hours. The only other time that had happened was when Teal'c had lectured on the Jaffa, and Jack was pretty sure that the recruits had been too scared to let their attention wander.

When Mitchell finished, Jack took over again asking for a show of hands of those with flight experience in the 302s. When Sam raised her hand, there were a few groans in the crowd which Jack chose to ignore. Looking around the room, he saw exactly what he expected; only Mitchell, Carter, and himself were rated in the 302s. So he proceeded with his next question, "How many of you have experience in an F-16?"

This let a large number of people raise their hands. "Good, because we're going to spend the afternoon in the 302s. Every one of you will be going up second seat with one of us," indicating himself, Mitchell, and Carter, "or Teal'c. Depending on what kind of skills you have, you may even get the opportunity to take the stick at some point. Those of you who have a decent amount of flight experience may want to spend some time in the simulators and work on getting yourself rated for the 302s."

"But today's lesson is one of fun. Flying in a 302 is not something that SG team members do on a regular basis, but flying in general does happen on occasion, depending on which team you're on. Before we get to an afternoon of flying, we're going to spend the next few hours in the gym assessing your hand to hand combat skills. Everyone will be participating regardless of what your level is or when you had your last eval. Meet you in the gym in 20. Dismissed".

----

A quick change of clothing and the group was in the gym. Each of the remaining 12 colonels (compared with the 15 who started) took one or two of the other trainees and began working them through the basic skill levels. Unfortunately for Sam, she was the lucky soul who got stuck with two of the hotshot trainees, the two that always had a comeback and never knew when to keep their mouths shut. At the same time, they were very skilled which was the only reason they were still in the program.

Today though, the two captains had decided it was time to find out what the female colonel was made of. After getting through the basics, they each took a turn in the ring with Sam. Very much holding back, she let each of them work out their frustration, blocking or avoiding every punch or kick that the first captain threw at her.

When the second captain took his turn, he began throwing punches that were harder and faster than the first, and he succeeded where his friend had failed. He landed a punch right into Sam's gut causing her to bend over to suck in a deep breath of air and put her chin right in the path of the next punch that succeeded in putting her on the mat. The captain had managed to strike her in the only place on her body where she still had a bruise from the attack by Pete over two weeks ago. Leaning down to offer the woman a hand up, he whispered, "So being the General's girl doesn't help you out in everything does it?"

The poor captain never knew what hit him. One second he was standing over the woman who seemed to be in the training because of her connections rather than her worth, and the next he was in the air and then flat out on the mat. In the captain's rush to lord his success, he had given Sam an opening, and she had swept his legs out from under him.

Teal'c, ever the observant Jaffa, had rushed to ringside when he saw Sam's reaction to the captain's punch, and he overheard the nasty comment. All other activity in the room had ceased, and they were now the center of attention. Recruits who didn't even know Teal'c could tell that he was angry. Those who did know him heard him begin to speak in a tone that he only used when he was on a 'Jaffa revenge thing'. "If we were on Chulak, I would have the right to challenge you to a fight to the death for such a fabrication against my sister. Lucky for you we are not".

"Teal'c" Jack called, "I doubt that he intended to hurt Carter, just let him go. He can apologize, and we will all go back to training".

"I am afraid that I cannot, O'Neill. I have no doubt that he did exactly what he had intended," revealed Teal'c.

By this time Cam was kneeling by Sam, who was clutching her stomach with tears in her eyes, and Jack had made his way to the crowd to stand next to Teal'c. "All right guys, back to what you were doing, except you two," he said, indicating the troublesome captains, "who need to go talk to Colonel Ferretti while I take Carter here to infirmary. Teal'c you're in charge." When no one moved, he loudly said, "That's an order".

Once everyone was out of earshot, he turned to Teal'c and quietly asked, "What happened?" as he kneeled down next to Sam, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"The young man indicated that your relationship with Colonel Carter did not make her a proficient fighter" the Jaffa related.

Burying his anger and focusing on Sam, he asked "You up for a trip to the infirmary?"

She nodded and let him pull her to her feet. Still clutching her stomach, she allowed him to lead her from the gym and to the infirmary. Leaving her there with Dr. Lam, who assured him that she would be fine, he returned to his office and collapsed into his chair, thinking about their conversation from earlier in the week.

//Flashback//

It was Monday afternoon, and that day's training had went fairly well. Sam had buried herself in her lab, and Jack had stopped by to drag her away for a decent meal. He didn't announce his presence, just sat down on the stool and waited knowing that she knew he was there.

When she finished, she turned to him and asked, "Is there something I can help you with sir?"

"Yeah, you can come help me find a decent meal in this place" he offered with a slight smirk on his face.

"Sure, just give me 10 minutes" she replied. Ten minutes later, true to her word, she was ready to leave, but rather than heading for the door, she sat down on the stool across from Jack. "I know I promised to let Jack know when I was ready for a new relationship and I was wondering if you'd pass along a message to him for me," she began. Seeing Jack nod, she continued, "Tell him that I'm not ready for a relationship yet."

She took the chance and glanced at Jack who wasn't letting any emotion show on his face, "But tell him that I will be ready soon. I just need to finish up this training program I'm assigned to and then," she took a deep breath, let it out and said, "I'll be ready."

A small smile lit up Jack's face, "Jack's probably going to wonder why," he said, "is there a specific reason why you two have to wait until the end of that training program?"

A one of a kind, million dollar Sam Carter smile lit her face as she replied, "I've got this CO who gets really upset when other guys show an interest in me, so I figured I'd better wait until I don't have to report to him anymore to start that relationship. But you could tell him that I wouldn't mind seeing him and talking to him every so often. Could you do that for me sir?"

"I think I can do that for you Carter" he said and the grin that accompanied his words let her know that everything was okay between them.

//End Flashback//

Thinking back, Jack realized that every night since then they had eaten dinner together, usually joined by Daniel or Teal'c. He had made time to hang out in her lab, and she had been the one with whom he had walked to the training sessions. While they had never hid their friendship from anyone, he realized that most of the guys in this training program didn't realize how close he was with this former teammate. Putting his head in his hands, he wondered if he had done the right thing in convincing Ferretti that Sam needed to be part of these training sessions.

So far it hadn't seemed to help her any, and no one seemed to realize just how good she was at her job. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Enter" he called.

Ferretti walked through the door and fell into the chair. "Well, I think we can say that we are now officially short two more captains as of about five minutes ago".

"Really?"

"Yeah, well they both told a story that wasn't convincing with an attitude that I didn't like, so I figured it was time to send them packing," answered Ferretti. "Besides, I didn't want them to have to deal with you or Teal'c because I wasn't sure they would survive the encounter," he added. "So, when are you finally going to admit you love Sam and ask her to marry you?"

"What?"

"Come on Jack, it's been obvious that there is something between you since that day in the briefing room. At least tell me that you've talked to her," offered Ferretti.

"We've talked," admitted Jack, "and we've agreed to wait until after training is over. Her choice, not mine".

"Well, that's a start, especially for you" claimed Ferretti.

"Enough about me and Sam," began Jack, "how are we going to handle what happened this morning".

"Here's what I think we should do…" began Feretti.


	29. Forming the new SG1

That afternoon the training group was assembled in the flight ready room, decked out in full flight gear, and now two Captains lighter than they had been that morning. Noticeably absent were several of the Colonels, including Colonel Carter and the General.

"Attention," Jack called as he entered the room followed by Colonels Ferretti, Carter, Dixon, Reynolds, Barnes, and Edwards. "For those of you who are not aware, the people standing up here with me all have the rank of Colonel, something they have earned, which is a fact that some of you seem to have forgotten. If any of you know, right now, that you cannot work with one of these Colonels, inform either myself or Colonel Ferretti at the end of the day, because they don't want you on their teams, and I don't want you on their team."

"I trust each and every one of them with my life and in turn, I'm going to trust each of them with your lives. These are the leaders of the new SG teams. Many of you seem to have forgotten that the rank of Colonel is not easily obtained, which really bothers me, especially considering that I wrote a recommendation for each and every one of these people to achieve the rank that they current have."

"I have also heard some rumors that people believe that there is something going on between me and Colonel Carter. To that, all I have to say other than "it's none of your business" is that we're friends, very, very good friends. Will there be any problems with that?"

"No sir" chanted the trainees.

"Good, now let's go fly" on that final note Jack turned to walk out of the room.

----

The General's speech seemed to have reassured many of the men. Most of the guys had ignored her before and now she couldn't go anywhere without one of the trainees trying to start a conversation with her. She wasn't sure if it was because they suddenly realized that she had earned her position, or because they felt the sudden need to try and win her over, now that they realized she would be leading one of the teams on which they coveted a spot and most likely, they wanted to remain on the General's good side.

But that afternoon in the training camp was by far one the best by Sam's standards. She had to admit that she had missed flying and that there was nothing better than flying something she had designed herself.

The end of the test flights came and Sam was the last to land her plane. As she shut down the engine and popped the canopy, Jack approached and tried his best to suppress an amused grin as Lt. Green climbed out looking slightly green. The General dropped into the seat Green had just vacated and flicked the switch to shut the canopy.

"Sir?" Sam questioned.

"Let's go. You've been flying people around all day who have no idea what these things can do, which I'm sure was fun. I don't know about you though, but I just want to go out and fly for as long as I can. Mitchell and Teal'c are going to fly with us. Think of it as a reward for putting up with not being able to really fly today."

So that was how the four of them came to spend the next hour flying around the solar system. When they finally did land and get out, Jack thought that seeing the grin on Sam's face was totally worth using his status as a General to get the extra hour in the air.

----

For Sam, things were starting to look up, especially as the 5 team leaders sat in the breakfast meeting the day before the mission to visit the Jaffa, waiting for the General and Ferretti to arrive.

After stepping around the subject for the past few days, the General had finally had enough and had asked all of them to submit a list of who they wanted on their team, figuring that the sooner the teams started to gain a tentative form, the sooner they could take care of any problems that came up and the sooner they could start to bond into a 'family'.

The fact he was smiling as he approached the table made some of them worried, but Sam just returned the smile and figured she had nothing to worry about.

"Well, guys, I am happy to say that for those of you who asked for the same guys, we were able to work things out last night, so everyone should be happy." He said waving a hand between himself and Ferretti. "All the trainees are now officially members of SG teams." He passed around lists to each team leader, saving one for himself. "The benefit of getting teams formed now is that it allows you to pick personnel over the coming weeks that will fit in well with your team. So, let's go give the trainees the good news," Jack said, standing to leave the table.

Needless to say, most of the trainees were thrilled. Cam just about passed out when Sam welcomed him as the 2IC of SG-1. In fact she had to repeat herself twice before he believed her and then he broke into the biggest grin she had ever seen on his face. She also added to her team the two Lieutenants that had rescued her from Pete a short time ago, Blackridge and Green.

Although Sam had originally considered Lt. O'Neill, she had decided against it after talking with him, his reason being that he might make the 'original' members slightly uncomfortable. So with that in mind he went to Dixon, head of SG-2.

All that was left was an overnight trip to visit Ishta and the Free Jaffa, and the first part of training would be over.

----

The next morning, the new SG teams stood in the gate room geared up and ready to head out for the first time. The wormhole formed and General Jack O'Neill stood on the ramp, turning to the newest SG team members he said: "Let's move out," and turned to lead the group through the Stargate to meet the Jaffa.

'_To say the recruits were impressed with the Jaffa would be understating things'_ thought Sam.

She was proud of her team. They had handled things quite well, were respectful of the Jaffa and the only thing that had been questioned on the mission was the team's sleeping arrangements.

The past routines of SG-1 had kicked in and despite General O'Neill no longer being a member of the team, he was the one left sharing a tent with Sam. The two Lieutenants quickly became tent-mates while Daniel and Cam had a restless night. Teal'c had disappeared with Ishta not long after their arrival there and Sam didn't expect to see him until the next morning.

As her team sat around their own campfire that night, one of the Lieutenants finally braved the question, "Why do you guys have such strange sleeping arrangements? No disrespect intended, sir or ma'am but, most of the teams I've been on had individual tents."

"Well on one of our first missions when we left the then Captain Carter alone," Jack began, "I ended up having to trade my handgun to get her back. From there on out, it was kind of a silent understanding that there would be no one left alone, if it could be helped. Then there's the fact that Teal'c really didn't sleep so he didn't need a tent. Add that to the fact that Daniel likes to move around a lot while he sleeps."

"Do not" interrupted Daniel.

"Do too"

"Do not"

"Do too"

They both glared at each other, before Daniel turned and asked: "Sam?" he said expecting her to take sides and back him up in the argument.

Grimacing slightly, Sam said, "I'm afraid I have to agree with the General on this one Daniel. I might still have scars from the one time I shared a tent with you".

Laughter broke out through the group.

Suddenly something dawned on Cam, as he turned to Sam who was sitting next to him, "And you claim to be my friend" he said with a wounded look "you didn't see fit to tell me about this prior to letting us choose sleeping arrangements?"

Sam didn't even bother to look guilty as Jack looked at the man and leaned in front of Sam to pat the man on the shoulder, "Just be glad that's all the hazing you get, we had Sam wearing a dress".

If anyone noticed his reference to the female Colonel by her first name, they didn't seem bothered by it.

----

It was Cam who was woken instantly in the middle of the night by what he thought was a scream. He quickly grabbed his sidearm and poked his head out of the tent to see Daniel, who was on watch, already approaching the tent that Sam and the General were sharing.

He saw the 2 Lieutenants poke their heads out also, but they quickly disappeared back inside when they realized that there wasn't an emergency.

'_What is going on?'_ he thought. Automatically pulling his boots on and lacing them up, he approached Daniel and quietly whispered, "What happened?"

"Sam had a nightmare. Jack is in there with her now, they'll be fine" Daniel reassured.

"Does it happen often?" questioned Cam.

"Only when she's under a lot of stress, hasn't been getting enough sleep, or if the planet we're on triggers something." responded a voice from behind.

Cam turned around to see the General standing there, he made to rise and apologize, but the General just waved him down and explained, "We already talked about it, and when the team is formalized, there will be a meeting where things are discussed and one of those things is this. She'll be fine, probably on the quiet side today, but she'll be okay."

The conversation ended as Sam appeared from her tent and sat down between Cam and Jack, although slightly closer to Jack. Daniel handed Sam a cup of coffee and asked, "Are you okay?"

Sam took a deep breath, inhaling the cup of coffee before saying, "Yeah, I'm okay".

The two Lieutenants approached the campfire getting their own cups of coffee as the new SG-1 started their day.

----

They ended the day in much the same way. All the teams said good-bye to their Jaffa hosts, walked through the Stargate, and went through an official debriefing. It was only SG-1 though that sat in the mess hall for the unofficial debrief, with the special guest of General O'Neill. Once everyone had gathered their cup of coffee and dessert, Sam spoke.

"This is how I hope we end every mission. This is where we say much of what wasn't said in the debriefing, the part where we celebrate making it out alive, both figuring out how we did it and how we'll do better next time. I hope more often than not, General O'Neill will be available to join us, he taught me most of what I know and has a mind for tactics and survival strategy to rival the best."

"Gee Carter, you make me sound like a hero or something" claimed the embarrassed General.

"Well, sir, even if you don't consider yourself a hero, you do have a wealth of knowledge and experience that we would love to draw on whenever possible" replied Sam.

"You know she's right Jack, so just give up now so we can enjoy eating before going back to our offices and the piles of paperwork waiting for us." said Daniel.

Just the thought of paperwork made the Colonels and Generals groan.

Jack just smiled, "Never let it be said that I disagreed with the great Lt. Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter".

"Before you all go though, there's one more thing we need to discuss," began Sam, "I know I woke you all up this morning. Once we have a full roster, we'll sit down and talk about it. For right now though, just know that I'm really happy with how you guys have come together. We'll be getting four more members to add to the team before we're done, hopefully they will be people that we can all work with. Although it hasn't been formerly announced yet, Daniel and Teal'c will both remain on SG-1. Enjoy your weekend, and don't forget we'll have a team meeting here at 0800 hours on Monday morning before we go looking for the rest of our team. If you have any questions, remember that my door is always open, the only thing I ask is that you don't go hunting for me in my quarters-if I'm there I'm sleeping." She said, ending the welcoming speech on a lighter note.

"Yes, please don't go looking for any of us in our quarters;" stated Daniel, "Jack can be really grumpy if he doesn't get his beauty sleep."

The newly formed SG-1 just laughed, and Sam realized how happy she was with her choice of new teammates.

----

Monday brought new challenges as they went through the same process with the new trainees, although Sam was enjoying things a lot more this time around. There was a lot less pressure for her to look good with these people, as they already knew what she was capable of.

A few days in to the training and with the help of her team, she had already worked the list of names for possible SG-1 team members down to less than 20. Now it was just a matter of time for figuring out who would work best with her team.

She found herself with more free time than what she had had on Earth, and had to admit to herself that she could really get used to it. A lack of gate travel by SG teams resulted in a lack of alien technology for her to study.

She had the opportunity to spend time with her nieces and nephew, which most of the time also included spending time with Jack. The two of them had even taken advantage of a free weekend to go fishing in the nearby lake and Sam was beginning to look forward to the end of training so that she and Jack could 'officially' discuss pursuing a relationship. Not to say they hadn't discussed it already.

//Flashback//

They were both lounging on the sand of the lake, Jack with a fishing pole and Sam with a book.

"So, I've been thinking," Jack started to speak.

"Really? You do that?" Sam responded teasingly

"It happens on occasion," he retorted, playing along. "Anyways, I've been thinking that there is no way we are going to be able to hide any change in our relationship, so rather than trying to ask forgiveness afterwards, I think we need to go above board to at least the Generals, and probably the other members of your team once you get that figured out."

Now he sat silently, waiting for her response, and was surprised when she said "Okay."

//End Flashback//

Now she chanced a glance across the conference room table at her former CO, who gave her a reassuring grin as they waited until the meeting came to an end, knowing that today was the day the top brass found out about their desire to pursue a relationship.


	30. The End of Training Almost

All but the top brass had been dismissed, and now Sam was faced with justifying her desire to pursue a relationship with her former CO. Then Jack started to talk and she realized that she wasn't doing this alone; he was there to face it with her.

"Generals, Mr. President, we felt that it was important to inform you that we," he began, indicating Sam and himself, "are going to pursue a relationship as soon as training finishes. We aren't asking for permission, but we are informing you that it is going to happen, and if any of you are going to have a problem with it, now would be the time to inform me" he stated in his 'I'm-in-charge-and-you had-better-not-mess-with-me-voice' that had been making recruits tremble in their boots all week.

General Jumper was the first to respond, "Can you tell me, in no uncertain terms that there was nothing that went on between you whilst you were in the same chain of command?"

Before Jack could say something that would undoubtedly not be good, Sam jumped in and stated, "Sirs, I can tell you this. If I had to do things over, knowing where we ended up I would have handed in my resignation to General Hammond years ago. The only thing that I couldn't do at the SGC as a civilian was lead SG-1. Even now, I'm willing to give that up if you decide that we can't pursue a relationship." She finished determinedly.

The baffled expression on Jack's face almost made George laugh, so before anyone else could say anything, he spoke: "I don't think any of us are going to have a problem with it" the glance he sent around the table left no room for argument and the glare directed in General Jumper's direction told him that he had no right to ask such a question.

At that point the other Generals nodded their agreement, there would be no problems. Realizing their presence was not required any longer, the other Generals quickly excused themselves from the room, leaving just Jack, Sam, George, and the President.

When Jack braved a glance at the President, he was surprised to see that the man had a thoughtful expression on his face, "Mr. President, I can personally assure you that there was never anything more than a purely professional relationship between myself and Colonel Carter".

"For the umpteenth time Jack, it's Henry and of that I have no doubt. I read a fair amount of your mission reports and have personally read every recommendation for her promotion that has come across my desk, every time I've wondered why she didn't get the promotion sooner. You are a fine officer Colonel Carter. You both are fine officers," he corrected himself before continuing, "Who are no longer in the same direct chain of command, and even on occasions when you are, I don't foresee any problems, even if some people seem to think there will be. I wish both of you the best, besides, the fact you warned George and I in advance means that I can update my bet in the pool and hopefully come out ahead" added Henry as he stood and smiled, shaking both the officers hands, before walking out of the room.

"Well, that was weird," stated Jack, still in shock over what had just happened.

----

The next two weeks flew by, and suddenly Sam found herself sitting in what, she hoped, would be the last training staff meeting, attempting to argue why she and SG-1 deserved not only the best trainee scientist; Lt. Hailey, but also the best field medic. Add to that the fact that she was also going to request an additional linguist and a top notch geologist; she just knew the other commanders were not going to like her.

Looking at her list though, she knew these people would be the best fit for her team. In fact, if she didn't get one of these people; she didn't have anyone else in mind for her team. Now she just hoped she could convince everyone else that she deserved the personnel she wanted.

It turned out to be a lot easier than she thought.

General O'Neill had just walked into the room, stood by the board that listed the remaining trainees, looked at her, and asked, "So Carter, who do you want for your team?"

"Lt. Jennifer Hailey" she began and she heard sighs of relief from the other personnel. Obviously they were glad that they wouldn't have to try to understand her. Jack just moved Hailey's name under the SG-1 label.

"Major Tracey Michaels" she added, knowing that this one would be the easiest of the battles she was about to fight. Her team needed an experienced doctor on it. They had been too lucky in the past and she wasn't ready to repeat some of those experiences again. Again, Jack didn't think twice, just moving the Major's name under the SG-1 label.

"Dr. Roger Murphy" she mentioned casually. This one caught everyone's attention. The two best scientists were already on SG-1, so why did she need another one? Yet again, Jack just moved Murphy's name under SG-1.

She paused before naming her last choice, knowing that there would be some objections; "and Dr. Austin Wilson".

"No, Sam, you can't have him too!" cried Dixon amid groans from the other commanders. Once again, Jack placed the name in the SG1 list.

"Was he on your list?" asked Jack, turning towards Dixon.

"Well, no, but she just took the best medic, linguist, scientist, and geologist from the training group" explained Dixon.

"If you've got a problem with it _Dave_, then the next time the world needs saving or there's some Tok'ra suicide mission, SG-1 can go on vacation to some nice planet and we'll let SG-2 take care of it" Sam sarcastically claimed, reminding the group of the time SG-2 had been on a team vacation in Australia when the world had needed saving.

This brought chuckles from the entire group as well as Dave Dixon as he nodded, conceding the point to the CO of SG-1.

"Unless Colonel Carter had a name that was on your list, keep quiet Dave" reprimanded the General cheerfully.

"Same goes for the rest of you. Did anyone have a name that was on Carter's list?" questioned the General.

"No-one?" Well then Carter, looks to me like you have your team. You should probably go get them, I'm sure they're waiting in the mess for you." he said with a knowing wink.

She was so pleasantly surprised that she almost skipped to the mess, where her team was indeed waiting for her.

"We got them," stated Sam, "The last four spots go to Lt. Hailey, Murphy, Wilson, and Major Michaels."

Everyone smiled and rose together as they went to inform their newest teammates of the news.

----

The next morning found four of the five SG teams standing in the gate room with a very happy General O'Neill. SG-3, the all military team, was staying at the base, just in case. This overnight mission was the last mission the teams needed to complete before they would be declared ready for field duty and Jack was looking forward to his last mission for a while. They were going to an uninhabited planet that had been on the list for a possible Alpha or Beta site. Now that they needed a new evacuation site, the first set of missions for all the SG teams would be to explore the planets that had been on the list.

So while Jack waited patiently for the 'gate to finish dialing, he glanced around the room at the personnel there. Some of them were soldiers, well trained and experienced in the whole 'killing people' thing. Others were civilians, very naïve about the dangers they could faced out there. The smallest group though, consisted of the team leaders, who knew exactly what they were getting into.

When he glanced in Sam's direction, she just grinned, pulled her baseball hat down over her hair and gave him a small smile, reassuring him that everything would be all right, that 'they' would be all right. That fact made him smile. They already had plans for a stargazing 'date' for the night they got back, when they were officially out of each other's chain of command.

Jack prayed to whatever genuine god was out there that nothing would interrupt their plans for the start of their relationship. Then again he was exploring with SG-1, why would anything go according to plan?


	31. The End of Training for the New SG1

The entire group had no more than walked through the gate and let it shut down we they were surrounded by a group of natives pointing primitive looking weapons.

"For crying out loud!" Jack O'Neill practically shouted, "Can't any planet that's supposed to be uninhabited and safe, be uninhabited?"

"You speak our language" a voice from behind him stated. Rapidly many of the group turned around, attempting to determine which one of the men had spoken.

"It has been long since we have seen others of our kind come through the great stone ring," the man spoke again. Jack noticed that he was a tall lean, muscular man. Only then did he notice the make-up of the group. They were all men, not a woman in sight.

Obviously Teal'c had noticed this as well, as he had covertly moved closer to his two female teammates, leaving Sam for Jack to 'protect'.

Lucky for Jack, Daniel took over in what was quickly become a meet and greet mission. "My name is Daniel Jackson, and this is General Jack O'Neill, the leader of our group. We are peaceful explorers originally from a planet called Earth."

"You are very large group to just be explorers" stated the leader, "and you carry many weapons."

"Yes, well, we were supposed to be on a training mission and we didn't realize that there were people here already. We carry the weapons for protection, we've met some people out here that would like to hurt us" offered Daniel in explanation.

"Forgive Ma'ta his manners, we do not mean any disrespect" explained a man who had now stepped to the front of the group, towards Daniel, Jack and Sam. His movement accompanied a relaxing in the weapons pointing towards the group. Despite being shorter than the previous man, Jack could tell that he commanded the respect of the others. The man also chanced a glance at the blond Colonel off to Jack's right.

'_So this is the real leader'_ thought Jack, _'and I really don't like how he's looking at Carter.'_

"I am Makk'a, mate to Maya. Welcome. We were returning from a week of hunting and will spend the evening celebrating our success in our village. I would like to invite you to us join for the celebration," Makk'a invited.

"Give me a minute Mac, guys?" Jack responded, instinctively calling his former teammates to him along with the team leaders. "So what do you think?"

"Sir, I don't sense a Goa'uld presence in them. But I don't think it's a good idea to have 4 of the 5 teams here, especially without letting Landry know what's happening" offered Sam.

The others were nodding their heads in agreement.

"Teal'c?"

"I sense no deception in these people at this time O'Neill. But I agree that it would not be wise to keep more than one team here. If they refuse to allow some of us to leave, we may learn of their true intentions" stated Teal'c.

"Okay then, SG-1 stays, everyone else goes back through the gate. Dixon, make sure you give Landry the long version of the mission report and to expect contact within 24 hours, if he doesn't hear from us, I recommend that he proceed with caution and send SG-3 after us, hopefully though none of that will happen," ordered Jack.

And that was how SG-1 and General Jack O'Neill found themselves heading towards a village. Daniel and Dr. Austin Wilson found themselves engrossed in a conversation with Makk'a. Eventually Daniel made his way back to Jack and Sam to report on what he had discovered.

"Jack, this is amazing! These people seem to be a cross between the-"

"Daniel! Save it for the debrief. All I want to know is if they're going to try and kill us, eat us for dinner, or throw us in a prison cell" requested Jack.

"I don't think so" offered Daniel, "they don't have big weapons, seem pretty primitive, and are nomadic, which is probably why we the UAV and initial exploration never picked up on them."

"So nothing to worry about?" questioned the General.

"They seem to lead a rather peaceful life and have no enemies to speak of," added Daniel.

"So nothing to worry about?" repeated Jack.

"Nothing to worry about" summarized Daniel.

"And that's what worries me" added Jack, thinking about the number of times their missions had started like this only to end up going totally wrong.

----

Twenty four hours later, SG-1 stepped back through the wormhole to the Beta site, and for the most part they were laughing or smiling, something that General Hammond could rarely remember happening.

"SG-1 and General O'Neill report to the infirmary and then debrief in 2 hours," he said to the group as all but the two Colonels and General O'Neill swept out of the gate room.

"Did everything go well" General Hammond asked.

"Peachy, just remind me that from now on training missions go to planets where we know the natives and how they live" sarcastically replied the other General.

'_This is going to be one interesting debrief'_ thought General Hammond.

"Anything to add Colonel Carter?" asked Hammond.

"Sir, the planet had trees, friendly, cooperative natives with a unique view on the treatment of men" she replied, barley keeping the grin she was hiding from surfacing, "but I feel it would best to save that for the debrief General."

"Well then, hit the showers and don't forget your visit to the infirmary. I hear Dr. Lam has just received her latest supply of needles," General Hammond said, intentionally goading the other General. He had to wonder what kind of an adventure SG-1 had found this time as he watched the last member of SG-1 disappear through the door.

'_Well one thing is for certain,' _he thought, _'it doesn't matter who is on SG-1, they're always going to have the weirdest experiences.'_

----

Two hours later they were seated in the briefing room, when Daniel began describing the cultural aspects of the natives.

"I think they were some relation to the Amazonians, at least in the sense that they were a matriarchal society, all though there may have been some Native American influence just based upon their hunting methods. I've never seen anything quite like it before General Hammond, but they had some interesting customs, which I'm sure Jack would _love_ to tell you about" Daniel stated.

Chuckles around the table were met with a glare from General O'Neill who calmly stated, "I'm pretty sure customs are your area of expertise Spacemonkey" which let Hammond know that there was much more to the story then he would ever get, but whatever had occurred had probably just embarrassed the male members of the team, judging by the blush that had crept into their faces.

At that point though, Sam took over in attempt to prevent any member of her team from embarrassing another, no matter how much she wanted to see Jack O'Neill flounder as he attempted to explain exactly what had happened on that planet. "General Hammond, I'm sure that Daniel would be willing to give you a full report on the cultural aspects of the Kuma, as the people called themselves. Honestly, we went, celebrated with them, ate dinner, went to bed, woke up, and mentioned the possibility of an agreement in which we could use their planet as a temporary evacuation site. The leaders seemed receptive to the idea, although I think an all female contingent should probably go back and formalize a treaty between their people and ours. I don't anticipate a problem though" she offered to the General.

"So nothing happened that is reportable or worthy of mention?" questioned the General, wondering just what had happened on that planet.

"Sir," explained Colonel Mitchell, "I'm saying that this mission report will be the shortest thing you have ever read. There was nothing technologically advanced on that planet, no soil samples to do-the only value to that planet is the people living there and the possibility of an evac site."

Contemplating Mitchell's statement, Hammond asked, "Well, anyone else have anything to add to that?"

He was greeted by a chorus of "No sirs" to which he replied, "In that case, each of you needs to file your mission report with General O'Neill within 48 hours," and Jack groaned, as if suddenly realizing the amount of paperwork that this mission would give him, "and I'm leaving you in General O'Neill's capable hands for your final training debrief with a reminder that we will have the official team introduction ceremony, in full dress uniforms or formal wear, tomorrow at 1300 hours."

And General Hammond left the room, walking towards his office, and allowing the remaining member of the group some privacy.

General O'Neill turned to the woman sitting on his left and the two silently communicated with their eyes as the other members of SG-1 watched. They turned and received small nods from Daniel and Teal'c before they stood up.

"Follow me," he ordered the people in the briefing room and he proceeded to lead them through the base to what two days before had been the room the contained 4 beds for the 4 original members of SG-1. Now the room was empty save for 2 beds, 2 desks, and 2 chairs. "Grab a seat" he said as the group filed in.

He sat on one of the beds, making room for Sam next to him who was the last to enter. Sam softly shut the door behind her before taking the offered seat. She settled in next to him, almost leaning into him, but not quite and several of the newer members just traded glances, wondering what was going on.

"Okay, usually we'll have our 'unofficial' debrief in the mess after the official debrief. That's where we'll discuss what happened, how we screwed up, and how we can keep from getting ourselves killed next time" explained Sam. "If you're lucky, General O'Neill will be willing to join us and offer his opinion and advice" she added smiling at the man who was sitting next to her.

"It is also the time when we'll discuss what makes it into the official mission reports." She raised her hand to ward off any potential objections. "I'm not talking about lying or omitting important information, but things that aren't pertinent for everyone to know".

"Like what ma'am?" questioned Major Michaels.

"We'll omit the fact that every single woman in the village wanted to claim Jack as her 'mate' but we will include that fact that Jack and Sam pretended to be married" Daniel explained, jumping in to save Sam and Jack from a possibly embarrassing situation.

"Won't the higher ups think that's a little weird? I mean you two pretending to be married," wondered Dr. Roger Murphy.

Teal'c fielded this question "It shall not. By my count O'Neill and Colonel Carter have pretended to have such a relationship 29 different times."

The looks on the new member's faces was priceless.

Sam added, "Most times though, it's because the women are the slaves, not the men, so don't get too used to this ladies. Luckily, we know which planets that will happen on, so we shouldn't get blindsided like we did this time".

"So the following are things that will not be mentioned in the mission reports: the problems that certain people had doing the required dance to enter into the village," began Jack and he went on to list quite a few things. Every so often someone else would add something, or amend what he said.

He finally finished and stated, "The reason behind this isn't to lie to anyone, it's to keep one person from getting embarrassed or ridiculed because of something that happened with the natives. It doesn't mean that you won't be on the receiving end of some teasing, but it keeps the amount of ribbing to a minimum".

Nods of agreement went though the room.

"Okay, one housekeeping item. Mission reports will usually go to Colonel Mitchell rather than to me, which is different than the other teams, purely because those team leaders don't have other responsibilities in the labs etc. I'll still be glancing through them and signing off on them but, Cam is the one who get all the paperwork" said Sam sending Cam a small grin as a token thank you.

"Two other things need to be addressed, both of which involve me on a personal side. What I'm about to tell you, I hope you can understand, comes from a desire to be open with my teammates and to explain why I'm different from the rest of you. I get different shots and take different drugs; there are even special medicines in the field kit that are just for me. The reason behind that has to do with what happened in my first year on SG-1. For those of you who don't know, I became an unwilling host to a Tok'ra, Jolinar of Malkshur. When she died to save my life, she left behind naquadah in my system that has created some weird chemical imbalances and some memories, which as some of you have already found out, occasionally resurface in the form of nightmares. The other weird side effects involved me being able to sense things, like a Gou'ald."

She paused, catching her breath before she continued. "The other item involves a personnel relationship between General O'Neill and myself". This time she paused, as if uncertain how to continue, which is where Jack picked.

"What Sam is trying to say as that we" indicating himself and Sam, "are going to be pursuing a personal relationship. We thought it was only fair for you to hear it from us rather than someone else," he stated.

Silence reigned through the room as people were unsure of what to say before Cam broke it saying, "About time!" and suddenly, everyone had big grins on their faces, but none of them compared to the grins that appeared on the faces of Sam and Jack.

"That's really all you need to know. Remember the official ceremony tomorrow at 1300 hours and all of you and your families are invited to a party tomorrow afternoon 1600 hours down at the beach beside the lake. We're going to grill out" said Jack.

And suddenly Sam and Jack were alone in the room, and for the first time Jack O'Neill didn't worry about someone walking into a room when he had Samantha Carter wrapped up in his arms.


	32. Celebrating Success

An alien planet had never see the display of dress uniforms like the one that occurred the following day at 1300 hours when every military man or women (except the few which were excused for security duty and such) were present in front of a crowd of well dressed civilians.

The President introduced each of the teams, beginning with SG-5 right up through SG-1 and then he turned over everything to General Hammond who had some news to announce.

"I'm here to announce my retirement, effective as of 1400 hours today. Although I will not be going anywhere," laughter from the crowd made him smile, "I will be stepping back from much of the day to day running of the Stargate to spend more time with my two daughters and my grandchildren," and George looked out to the crowd and sent a smile in the direction of his family.

"But before I go, I am pleased to have the opportunity to be part of handing many long overdue promotions today. Most of these were to be handed out months ago on the day we evacuated Earth, but since then there have been a few added to that list." It took a great amount of coordination between him, President Hayes, the other Generals, and the Colonels to change the insignia on the many uniforms as the newly promoted officers recited their oath.

When it came time for Lt. Hailey to receive her promotion to Captain, it was Sam who had the honor of changing the insignia on her uniform and offering her first salute as a Captain.

Hammond had been through the promotions to Lieutenant, Captain, and Major and Sam figured that the promotions were over and had returned to stand between Cam and Daniel, in a line with the rest of her team, when Hammond spoke again.

"And now I have only two more to go and then I can let you all go celebrate these well deserved honors. These last two promotions were to be presented prior to our departure from Earth and since then, both of these individuals have proven themselves to be deserving of these promotions many times over. I take great pride in the fact that my last act as an official member of the United States Air Force is opportunity to promote both of these officers who are some of the finest that I have ever had the opportunity to serve with. Please come to attention." He paused giving the officers time to comply with his order.

"By the order of the President of the United States it is my pleasure to announce the promotion of Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter to the rank of Colonel in the United States Air Force."

Sam's jaw dropped and she stole a glance at Jack who was grinning from ear to ear and yet she hadn't moved yet. Suddenly she felt someone's elbow dig into her side and she realized that Daniel was trying to get her to move. But her feet were frozen to the ground until someone's hand, she suspected Cam, gave her a small push forward. Then she didn't even remember walking up to the stage and standing before General O'Neill and General Hammond. The President approached with a box which she thought would have her new insignia, but first General Hammond reached into his pocket and pulled out a different box. He opened it and pulled out a bird and handed it to General O'Neill.

Then together they pulled off the old insignias and replaced it with the new ones. Each returned her salute with broad smiles on their faces as she raised her hand and took her new oath.

She turned to leave but the President, who had sworn her in himself, laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Stay".

Not one to defy an order, she took a step back to stand next to him and await the final words from General Hammond who began to speak again, "The last promotion of the day, and my final act as an official officer goes to a man who I have a great amount of respect for. While I have at time questioned his methods, I have never once questioned his loyalty to his position, to his country, or to his planet. Please come to attention." Again he paused, waiting for the officers to comply with his order. "It is with great pride that I announce, by the order of the President, the promotion of Brigadier General Jack O'Neill to Major General. Congratulations Jack, there is no one more deserving".

This time it was the President who gave her a small push forward and as he accepted the stars from General Hammond, Henry Hayes turned around and gestured her forward, handing Sam one of the stars, and allowing her the honor of adding it to Jack's uniform. Sam and the President completed the change of insignia. But it was Sam who was proud to be the first one to return a salute to the new Major General.

Sam and Jack stood side-by-side with the other Generals as the President approached the podium and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentleman, before we conclude today's ceremony and permit you some much deserved celebration, I have one more matter of business to take care of. Due to changes in the environment in which we live, I feel it is necessary to make some rule changes. All military personnel are bound by Air Force regulations, and there is one specific regulation that I believe needs to be addressed, and that is a rule addressed in article 36-2909, which deals most importantly with the fraternization policy. As of this moment, the fraternization policy has been officially amended to permit relations between any two military personnel that could be in the same chain of command so long as the officers inform their superiors and the relationship does not interfere with military operations. If interference does occur, one or both officers may receive a transfer or other reprimand depending on the situation. Keep up the good work. Dismissed!"

The President took a step back from the podium as cheers and applause broke out from the military personnel and civilians alike. Jack and Sam just looked at each other, shocked that they didn't have to worry anymore, no one could stop them from pursuing a relationship. The silence was broken by the President's approach.

"Congratulations to both of you on your promotions and on your future endeavors," Hayes sad as he smiled.

"Thank you Mr. President," Jack was finally able to spit out, still in shock.

"Yes, thank you Mr. President," echoed Sam.

"Both of you, its Henry, and I can't think of two more deserving people, both professionally and personally. Now go celebrate, I'm sure you have people waiting to congratulate you," Henry said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

Jack's hand crept to the small of Sam's back and guided her towards the steps which led down from the stage only to be met by General Hammond.

"Sir, thank you," offered Jack.

"It's George now Jack, I'm retired," he claimed with a smile.

"Well then thank you 'Uncle George', for everything," said Sam, leaning forward to give the man a hug.

"Yes, George thank you, and you do know that you and your family are invited to the party this afternoon down by the beach, we're grilling," and Jack smiled, shaking the older man's hand before leading Sam down the stair where the rest of SG-1 waited to greet them.

Daniel was the first one to make her way to her and he embraced her in a brotherly hug, followed close behind Teal'c who did the same, and they moved on to Jack.

Cam approached and came to attention, saluting them both, and waited until they both had returned his salute before also giving Sam a hug and Jack a handshake.

Sam felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to find Pete standing there and suddenly she tensed up, but all he did was offer her his hand and said, "Congratulations Sam, you deserve it. I just wanted to let you know that I hope you're happy." He gave her a small peck on the cheek and turned, disappearing into the crowd.

Sam turned around and was instantly pulled back into the fold with her friends. After receiving multiple hand shakes and hugs from every one of her new teammates, Ferretti, Dave Dixon, Reynolds, Walter, and even Generals Jumper and Kerrigan stopped by to offer their congratulations and well wishes.

----

It took them over an hour to make their way towards their new quarters as they kept getting stopped by well wishers and SGC personnel. Their new quarters were not on the base, but in a tent that was strategically located between the base, the academy, and the training field, but was off by itself, secluded from the rest of the base. Every tent around them was empty and at least a 100 yards away affording them some privacy that they had not had on the base. Even though they each had their own air mattress and sleeping bag, the new quarters were shared just between the two of them, making it seem a lot more intimate than it actually was.

Sam collapsed on her bed and kicked off her Air Force regulation heels, which were killing her feet. Jack sat down on his own bed after removing his jacket which clicked and clanked with all the medals on it and just starred at Sam, smiling at what he saw.

This was their first real 'alone' time since the shared hug the day before after the debriefing, and even that had been interrupted by a call for Sam in the control room because of a computer malfunction. Their 'date' had been canceled by unpredicted rain and the fact their presence had been requested else where. Jack had made the journey back to their tent in hopes of waiting up for her only to fall asleep long before Sam arrived.

And he just kept on smiling at her. Sam eventually realized that his eyes were on her and she turned to look and him, giving a goofy grin, very similar to the one on his face.

When he spoke, he stood up, offered her a hand a pulled her into a quick hug before exiting the tent and telling her, "Get changed and while I wait outside. We've got a party to go to!" With the excitement of a five year old waiting to be told he could open his presents on Christmas morning.

And he did wait outside, patiently for all of the 3 minutes that it took her to change and put on her shoes. She stepped outside with them untied and traded places with him. Eventually he stepped out of the tent to her side and grabbed her hand. He pulled her close to him and just wrapped her in his arms, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could. He only let go when she started to pull away, and even then Jack was pleased that Sam kept a tight grip on his hand as she pulled him towards the lake and the party that was waiting their arrival.

----

Anyone who saw them walking towards the party would and didn't know them, wouldn't have thought much about the fact that they were holding hands, but those who did know them, looked at each other, raised an eyebrow and traded grins before returning to what they were doing. After all, they had all heard the rumors that the two were starting a relationship, and this just confirmed it. Besides, the real money wouldn't be paid out now until they announced their engagement.

When they approached the group though, everyone could hear the screaming and seeing a little girl with long, dark hair running as fast as her little legs could towards Jack.

"Uwcle Jack," she called, "I saw you get a new medal," she told him once he had swept her up in a trademark Jack O'Neill hug, even if he did have to let her down so she could repeat the process with her Aunt Sam.

Throughout the party, Jack and Sam made the rounds, introducing themselves to various friends and family members of the new SG-1 before finally collapsing with plates of food onto a bench at a table with George Hammond, who until now had been surrounded by his own family. Izzy still clung to Jack O'Neill, having decided that he wasn't going to escape her sight tonight.

While Sam ate and Jack attempted to eat with a 3 year old in his lap, they were still continuously interrupted by people who just wanted to congratulate the threesome on their promotions and/or retirement.

Eventually the continuous stream of people quieted down enough that Mark and Maggie approached the table, taking up seats. Izzy offered her parents a smile, but didn't move as she covertly, or so she thought, stole bites of Jack's pie.

The conversation continued as the group filled each other in on their lives since the last time they had seen each other before reaching that day's events.

"I can't believe you made Colonel Sam, dad would have been so proud of you," calmly stated Mark. "He was older than you before he even made Lt. Colonel," he reminded her.

"I remember that promotion ceremony," she said wistfully, "It was the last one that Mom went to with us. The next time I saw him at a promotion ceremony was when I made Captain and he surprised me by being there. I didn't even know he was coming, he just showed up," and she smiled at that memory.

"He was here today, and he was smiling," claimed George Hammond, "After all where do you think that insignia came from?"

"You mean it was dad's? How did he know that I would need it?" questioned Sam.

General Hammond smiled and said, "The last time I saw Jacob was after you made Lt. Colonel Sam. He was so proud of you and so upset that he had missed the ceremony again. He handed me the box that had the insignia from when he was a Colonel in it and told me 'When Sam makes Colonel, make sure that she gets pinned with these, so that even if I miss this ceremony, I at least get a part in it this time, so that she'll know I wanted to be there'. He did want to be there Sam, and you too Mark, every time that he missed something over the past 8 years, he wanted to be there, but at the same time he knew that he wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the Tok'ra."

By this time tears had filled the eyes of the two Carter siblings as Sam said, "I know that there isn't a day that I would trade for the last 8 years with him, even though we did have to go to hell and back for him one time".

The group laughed at this comment, Mark and Maggie thinking it was just a joke, and Sam, Jack, and George remembering just how bad that mission had been.

Mark cleared his throat and began to speak. "I know that I could never say it enough, but thank you, for everything that you guys have done. I can't even imagine doing some of the things that we've heard about, and I'm guessing that that's just the tip of the ice berg," Mark said, looking at the Air Force officers sitting with him for confirmation, but received none as he continued, "As scared as we were when that SF showed up and dragged us to the mountain without answering any questions, I can't imagine not trusting you guys to get us through this. Whatever the future brings, I trust that the three of you will be the ones solving the problems and can't imagine anyone better for that job."

By this time, Sam had turned a nice shade of pink, and even Jack was fidgeting under the compliment of the elder Carter sibling. George Hammond was the one who responded though, "We were just doing our jobs, and we're still doing them. The only thing we can ask for is your support. There will probably be some rough spots ahead, but just bare with us and we'll get you through them."

Mark nodded his head in agreement along with Maggie, and the conversation turned to lighter subjects.

Eventually, Mark and Maggie drifted away pretty soon, finding other people to converse with as George once again looked at the couple sitting in front of him. He admired the little girl sitting in Jack's lap and how he just seemed to be a natural with her. He had to wonder if someday, these two would have their own children for the grown man to play with. If his relationship with Izzy was any indication, the man would be the perfect father.

Eventually George got up to gather his granddaughters for their bed time as the party was winding down. Sam stood up to give him a hung and George whispered in her ear, "Jacob wanted for you to be happy Sam, and I think that you're happier today than you've been in a long time".

"I am," she said, "I am".

She sat back down and let Jack wind his arm around her as Cam approached with his arm around Dr. Carolyn Lam. He stopped to give Sam a hug before sitting down across from the couple.

Deciding that he needed to rib the Lt. Colonel a little bit, Jack asked, "So what did Hank have to say to you when you told him you were dating his only daughter Mitchell?" giving Cam that innocent little boy grin, like he really didn't know the answer to the question.

Cam visibly gulped and gave a good impression of a deer caught in the headlights, "Umm, we haven't exactly told him anything yet," he stated.

Sam had to giggle at the expression on his face before looking to Carolyn and saying, "It really stinks to be the General's daughter doesn't it? Everyone is scared to date you because they have to meet your father at some point".

"I can't say I have very much experience with it," Carolyn pointed out, "but I do know that there really isn't too much he can say. It's not like I need his permission to date or anything".

"Hmm…so Cam, what's to stop me from spilling the beans to Hank?" questioned Jack.

Now Cam was really getting scared, but luckily he had a friend.

"What's to stop me from telling you that you need to get Mark's permission for me to date you Jack?" Sam pointed out, feeling slightly sorry for Sam.

Now it was Jack's turn to look scared as he said, "On second thought Cam, I don't think I'll be saying anything to Hank if you don't say anything to Mark."

"Say what to Mark?" questioned a voice behind him.

This time it was Jack doing the deer in the headlights look, as he turned to Mark, holding Izzy protectively in his lap, hoping that the man wouldn't attack him for fear of hurting his daughter.

Unfortunately for Jack, Sam saw right through his ploy, and reached for Izzy, who was now nearly asleep in Jack's lap, whispering to Jack, "Just get it over with, remember me and Izzy still like you even if he doesn't," and suddenly Jack found that he was alone with Mark Carter.

"Say what to Mark?" Mark asked again, wondering what this man and his sister could have been talking about.


	33. Mark and Jack talk

"_Say what to Mark?" Mark asked again, wondering what this man and his sister could have been talking about. _

Jack turned and walked away from the party, down the beach a little and wasn't surprised when Mark followed him. Eventually he stopped and sat down in the sand, where Mark eventually joined him.

After allowing some uncomfortable silence fill the time, Mark finally broke. "You know, Dad talked about you occasionally, he even wrote a little bit about you in the letter he left me."

"He did?"

"Yeah, and I didn't understand it until I saw you and my sister together. Sam has always been so independent, and her track record with guys has never been good. She usually ends up beating the crap out of them once and they leave her alone after that. But when she would talk about you, her whole face would light up. When dad mentioned you the first time, I was jealous. He talked about you like you were his son, something that he never did with me. The letter he left me just told me that if you ever got up the nerve to date my sister that I'd better not fight her on that decision, and if she didn't I was never supposed to say a word."

Mark looked Jack in the eyes now and said, "He also said to make sure that you knew he would be proud to call you his son-in-law."

"Wow," exclaimed Jack.

"Wow? My dad literally gave you permission to marry my sister and all you can say is wow?" questioned a confused Mark.

"Yeah, I mean, Jacob treated me better than my own father and the fact that he trusted me with his little girl means a lot to me. Your father was one of a kind and I was proud to know him the way that I did," offered Jack.

"Thank you, but that still doesn't tell me what kind of relationship you intend to have with my sister," said Mark.

"That's easy, I intend to date her, make her happy, and someday, if she'll have me, I want to marry her," Jack stated with great effort and now he waited for Mark's reaction.

Mark starred at him for a minute before calmly saying, "You do know that if you ever hurt her, there is no place you could hide from me."

"Honestly Mark, you don't even make the list of the top 10 people that I have to worry about because after your sister gets done with me just about every guy we work with will be standing in line, waiting for their shot at me. I promise that I'll do everything I can to not hurt her and that after I do, I'll do anything I can to fix it. After all, we've got 8 years of history where we've hurt each other, and I'll do my best to make sure that I don't do it again. My biggest fear besides getting her killed, is that I'll screw this up," Jack admitted.

"I wouldn't worry about either of those. Sam's smart and can handle herself; you've taught her well. It's obvious that you care about her because you were willing to let her marry someone else. And even when she was engaged to Pete, you still treated her in the same way you did today, with respect. But it wasn't just respect between two officers, but as a friend and a little bit of 'something' more. Besides, Izzy likes you, and that girl is as picky about who she interacts with as Sam was," complimented Mark.

The two shared a laugh, and Mark continued, "Seriously Jack, you're a good man. I have no problem with you dating marrying my sister. My only request is that you do it before Izzy is too old to be the flower girl, otherwise 'Uwcle Jack' will never hear the end of it."

The two laughed again before making their way back towards the party where they found only the closest friends and family members still waiting. As the sun began to set, Jack took in the sight of the now sleeping Izzy in Sam's lap. To him, Sam looked so at ease with the child in her lap that he didn't want to disturb either of them, but the evening was coming to a close and they had to make their way back towards the safety of camp.

Once they reached the security perimeter, the group said their good-nights, going their separate ways to bed.

Still not quite used to the idea that he could touch Samantha Carter without someone popping out and screaming "Frat regs" at him, Jack suddenly stopped walking.

Sam realized that Jack was no longer beside her and she turned around and walked back towards him. She looked him in the eye and asked, "Sir?"

Jack visibly flinched at the word, but before Sam could correct herself, he leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. Although initially surprised, Sam wasted no time in returning the kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck. Only when air became a necessity did their lips separate, despite staying wrapped in each other's embrace.

"I hate that word," Jack softly spoke.

"Huh?"

"You called me Sir, Carter. Do you know how much I hated hearing you call me that?" explained Jack.

"I'm sorry s-" Sam replied, barely stopping herself before the offending word came out again.

"Don't ever be sorry Sam for being who you are. We both built barriers to keep ourselves apart, we'll just have to work on breaking them down together," Jack offered.

"Well then sir," she said cheekily, "I believe that you owe me a stargazing date."

"For you ma'am, anything," he replied, leading her off towards their tent where they grabbed a blanket and jackets. They sat out under the stars and talked quietly into the wee hours of the morning before hauling themselves off to bed.

----

The next morning, it was almost lunch time before they made their way hand in hand towards the mess hall after the best night of sleep they had both experienced in years. While they hadn't done anything more than talk and kiss that one time, the fact that they could talk was such a relief. They hadn't covered everything but, they had managed to hit the highlights.

Jack felt like he had learned more about Samantha Carter in one night then he had in the previous eight plus years combined.

She had shared the death of her mother and he had talked about Charlie, and they both had shed a few tears.

She explained her love of motorcycles and he told her of his devotion to the Simpson's, and they had agreed that these could possibly become a shared interest.

She attempted to explain her love of science and he tried to make her see the wonders of fishing. In the end they had agreed to accept the other's love of this subject and observe from a far.

Mostly though, they both laughed at and with the other and shared in the one thing they could both agree whole heartedly on-the stars.

Despite a few secretive smiles and a few smaller bets being settled (the big ones remaining until the announcement of an engagement, wedding, or birth of the first Carter-O'Neill child), no one commented about the relationship between Sam and Jack.

While most people assumed that the two would announce a wedding date immediately, their close friends were not surprised that the two were spending time getting to know each other outside of the General and Colonel personalities they had worn for so long and none of them pressed the issue, figuring the couple would let them know any important news when they were ready.

----

On base, they set the standard for couples, followed closely behind by Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Dr. Carolyn Lam, who had decided to face the wrath of General Landry. Reportedly, some loud words had been heard through the closed door of his office after the couple entered, but they had emerged unharmed with smiles on their faces.

Over the next couple months, most people didn't notice a difference in Sam or Jack, except that both seemed to spend more time smiling and less time working then before. While neither neglected their duties, Sam found herself pawning off many of the scientific experiments that a year ago, she would have done herself just for the fun of it. Now, she kept only the most challenging and fun filled for herself. Her duties as the leader of SG-1 kept her busy, but less lab time left her with some free time to get out of the military base.

General Kerrigan had asked her to give a series of lectures at the new school, and while she had hesitated at first, Jack had convinced her to do it, promising that he would attend each and every one of them. After all, the lectures were for his newest set of trainees, and he figured that if the trainees could sit through the lectures without falling asleep, then so could he, even if he would never admit to her that he just loved to listen to her talk.

This group of trainees would graduate from the Academy with a full 4 years of training in preparation for a position at the SGC opposed to the two month class that the he had just finished.

Overall, things between Jack and Sam were going great, until they had their first misunderstanding.


	34. A Misunderstanding Resolved

AN: This is my favorite chapter to date and I hope that you all like it. Please leave me some reviews (I really enjoy reading and responding to them), especially if there was something that you want to see resolved before the end of the story.

----

_Overall, things between Jack and Sam were going great, until they had their first misunderstanding._

As soon as the words had slipped out of his mouth, he knew that he had said the wrong thing, but before he could say anything else she ran out of the tent, away from him, and he thought he could hear his heart break.

//Flashback//

He had packed a picnic lunch for them and they had grabbed some gear from the base, intent on doing a little recon on the way, and headed to the other side of the lake. Not seeing so much as a spider on the walk out there, they reached the other side of the lake and had a wonderful picnic lunch. Things had been going great, that had been laughing and talking again, until their radios had crackled to life.

"Base to General O'Neill or Colonel Carter. Base to General O'Neill or Colonel Carter."

Quickly he scrambled for the radio, and called back, "This is General O'Neill, go ahead base".

"General O'Neill, Thor has just arrived and is requesting your presence. He's offering to beam you to the briefing room when you're ready."

A quick glance at Sam told him that she was already packing everything up. "Tell Thor to give us five minutes and then he can beam us up, O'Neill out," he replied. Turning to Sam, he said, "Well at least Thor didn't just beam me up this time".

She giggled, and he took the opportunity to pull her into a hug.

But he could live with that. The fact that she wanted to be close to him, and he was allowed to was enough for him, at least for now.

It took several hours for Jack and Sam along with the other Generals to hash out what would be included in the last, and biggest supply shipment from the Asgard. Sam had a list a mile long of what else she would need to fix the Daedalus, and after several long hours and some give and take on everyone's part, the group called an end to the meeting and Sam transmitted to Thor the final list.

By this time it was late at night, and the two were walking back to their shared tent, when Jack started a discussion that he shouldn't have started until they both had plenty of time and weren't as tired as they were now. But as usual, Jack wasn't thinking so he asked out of the blue, "Sam, do you want children?"

Sam gave a good impression of a fish out of water as she looked at him before continuing on towards the tent, silent the entire way. Once she was inside she sat on her bed, and Jack quickly sat beside her, but didn't make a move to put an arm around her like she thought he would. He could tell that she was thinking, and it was starting to worry him. So he opened his mouth to speak only to have her beat him to it.

"Will what I say change our relationship?"

And then he said it, "It might." That was the point when she left the tent and he knew that he had screwed up big time-even if he was clueless as to how.

//End Flashback//

For three straight days, Jack and Sam didn't talk. The General and Colonel spoke but, that was little more that "Yes sir" and "No sir" and everyone on base, probably everyone in camp, knew that something had happened, even if neither of them would talk about it. Everyone kept as far from General O'Neill as humanly possible and if contact was required, they kept it as short as possible to avoid his wrath and Colonel Carter had buried herself in her lab again.

Finally, Daniel couldn't take it any longer and he barged into Jack's office only to find it dark and empty. He turned around only to find Walter who said, "If you're looking for the General, he's probably in the preschool room at the school".

----

And that is where Daniel found Jack, surrounded by three and four year kids and Jack was laughing and smiling in a way that he hadn't the past few days. When Jack realized he was being watched, he looked over and smiled at Daniel. Once he had freed himself from the kids, he left the room and walked towards the civilian mess. They sat down with their meals and finally Daniel asked, "So what did you do or say to Sam?"

"I'm not quite sure, I mean, we were talking and I said something and she stormed out. We haven't talked since," replied Jack, who was running one hand through his hair as he attempted to stab whatever that day's mystery meat was with his fork.

"What were you talking about?" questioned Daniel.

"I asked her what she thought about having kids," offered Jack.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and', how do you know there was anything else?" asked Jack.

Daniel just looked at Jack and said, "Because I know you, and the fact that Sam is mad at you means there must be something else."

"She asked if what she said would change our relationship, and I told her 'it might'," Jack finally admitted.

Daniel shook his head and looked at Jack, "You do realize that she probably thought that meant you wouldn't want her, don't you?"

The look of realization and fear that crossed Jack's face was unbelievable. Suddenly, it all made sense to him. Standing up, he asked, "Do you know where she's at?"

"Probably in her lab, where she always is when she's upset," he offered, smiling as Jack raced from the room, leaving his barely touched tray behind.

----

Sam was in her lab, starring at her computer, not really doing anything when she heard the door open, and then close again as someone stepped inside. She didn't need to glance up, she already knew who it was. So she just waited for him to speak.

"Sam," he called.

"General O'Neill, sir, is there something I can do for you? I'm in the middle of something here," she said in a harsh voice.

"Sam, we really need to talk," he tried again.

"I'm in the middle of something here, maybe later" she said.

"When?" he asked softly, pleading with his eyes to give him a chance.

Finally taking pity on the man, she offered, "tonight, after I'm done here at our tent. 2000 hours?"

"I'll be there," he said and he turned opened the door and walked out, but before he closed it, he softly said, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry Sam".

----

When Sam got to the tent that night, Jack was there waiting for her, a blanket in hand. A quick change of clothes later and they headed out to the middle of the field and sat down close together but not touching.

When Jack finally broke the silence, he made a heartfelt confession, "I'm sorry that I upset you, I never meant to. I love you, and while I would love to have children with you, if that isn't something that you want, I can live with that. Just having you would be enough for me."

At the words 'I love you', Sam had felt tears start to form, and the longer he talked, the more she cried, until she realized she was sobbing. Jack wasn't sure what to do, crying woman had never been his strong suit, and a crying Sam was even more difficult for him to understand. Yet when he opened in arms and she leaned into them, he just held her close and rubbed her back until the crying subsided.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

"No thank you. You didn't have to come here tonight, you didn't have to wait for me all these years, and I'm sorry that I upset you. I'm asking for your continued patience and understanding," Jack said. "I'm a guy and we're horrible at saying what we mean, and I think I'm one of the worst at it. What I meant when I said 'It might' is that the only way I could love you more is if we did have children together, but not having kids, isn't going to make me love you any less".

Again, Jack was forced to hold a sobbing Samantha Carter in his arms, which was something he really didn't mind too much, he was coming to realize.

Once the tears had subsided to sniffles, Sam looked at the man she loved, and softly began to speak, "I never thought that you would love me as much as I loved you," she began, "and if we're being honest, the only person I ever saw myself having children with, even while engaged to Pete was you. I can picture a little girl with your long brown hair and my blue eyes," she paused to take a breath, and Jack picked up the thread of the conversation.

"And she has my smile, and for as long as she'll let me, I rock little Grace to bed every night singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle little star'. At least that's how I've always pictured it," he smiled at Sam's shocked expression. "What you didn't think I ever thought about what our kids would look like?"

"Yes, I mean no, I mean, I just always thought that your feelings had changed because you hadn't said anything for so long."

Jack turned Sam's face so that he could look her in the eye and say, "I love you and only you. Everyone else doesn't even come close to what I feel for you. Since I met you, you're the only one I could ever imagine myself getting married to." Suddenly he stopped as if realizing what he had just said. Attempting to defuse the situation he quickly rushed to say, "Not that was a marriage proposal or anything if you don't want it to be."

Sam giggled at his words to which he added, "No giggling Colonel," which only made them both laugh.

When they could both breathe again, Sam asked, "What if I wanted that to be a proposal? Would you ask?"

Shocked at her words, he asked, "Do you want it to be?" and she nodded.

Jack reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a velvet ring box, the same ring box that he had been carrying with him since they started dating, knowing that when the time was right, it would be on hand. Turning to Sam, he opened the box and began to speak, "I love you. I have for a very long time, and I've been sitting on this ring since shortly after Edora, waiting for us to not be in the same chain of command. I had actually convinced myself that I would never get to use this ring. So I'm telling you Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter that you would make me the happiest man alive if you agreed to marry me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, kids or no kids. Will you marry me?"

In Sam's eyes, the ring that was in front of her represented everything that she didn't deserve to have. She had already managed to break off two engagements, and the man that was offering now was too good for her. And he was asking her to marry him. To her, life didn't get any better until her mind hit the realization of children and she burst into tears again.

Jack was still not quite sure what he was doing wrong. The fact she wanted a marriage proposal had made him pretty confident she would say yes, otherwise he wouldn't have asked. But here she was crying again. He had to ask, "Sam, what did I say? You have to tell me so that I can fix it."

That sealed it for her; Jack was too good for her! She didn't deserve this man, he thought that she didn't want children and he still wanted her, so she had to clear up the whole kids issue before she could even address the marriage proposal.

"Jack," she began, "I would love to have a family with you."

"But," Jack said, "I'm sensing a but here."

"But, after Jolinar, the entity, and just the other abuse I've put my body through the last eight years, the doctors have pretty much said I have a very small chance of ever conceiving a child, let alone carrying one to term," she admitted, burying her face in his chest, afraid to see the look on his face.

Suddenly, it all made sense to Jack. Sam wanted a family, had dreamed of having the perfect family. But she didn't think it was possible, that's why she had been so upset. Once again, he dug her face out of his chest, and forced her to look at him and he spoke the only words that mattered, "Sam, we can still try, there's Thor and the Nox, so no matter what don't let not being able to have kids upset you. If you want a family that bad, there are so many kids here without parents, that I'm sure we could adopt one, two, or six," he smiled as he saw the start of a grin on her face through the tears. "Even if we can't have kids of our own, that doesn't change how I feel about you, so what do you say, will you marry me?"

"Yes" she whispered before she caught his lips in a kiss that expressed the love she felt for him.

"Thank you," he whispered as he slid the simple, yet elegant engagement ring on her finger.

They drifted off to sleep lying in each other's arms, under the starts.


	35. The Wedding

For Sam, waking up in Jack's arms was the best feeling she had ever experienced. The man was spooned behind her, and holding her tightly to him like she was his teddy bear. In the distance, she could hear the horn sounding which signaled the start of a new day.

Sam attempted to stretch and wiggle out of Jack's arms only to have him tighten his grip and pull her back, mumbling, "Not yet."

"Jack," Sam laughed, "we need to move before someone finds us."

"It's not like we're doing anything," he protested, now fully awake.

"But that's not what the recruits will think," claimed Sam, "And I would like the chance to tell our friends about our engagement, rather than letting some scrawny recruit spill the beans."

Deciding that she was right, Jack allowed her to leave his arms before he asked, "And how are we going to tell them?" as he joined her in folding up the blanket.

"I think we should probably tell them rather soon, and get married not long after, considering the fact that we won't get any peace until we are married, if that's okay with you," she explained on the way back to their tent.

"Sam, it's your wedding, just tell me what to wear and when to show up, and I'll be there," he offered, "As long as there's cake I'll be happy."

"So your only requirement is cake, huh? I think I can handle that," Sam said smiling at him. "Still how or more precisely when, are we going to tell everyone?"

"How about at dinner tonight? We get everyone together and make the announcement, then inform the President and company tomorrow in the command meeting. By supper time tomorrow, the whole camp should know we're engaged," Jack stated.

"So any chance we can convince everyone to let us have a nice, quiet, private wedding?" questioned Sam.

"I doubt it. Unfortunately we both made too many friends out there, and I doubt we can get away with having a wedding without inviting at least some of them. Add to that all of the SGC personnel and we might as well just invite the whole camp and make it into a huge party," explained Jack.

"Figures," stated Sam with obvious sarcasm, "save the galaxy a couple of times and everyone wants to come to your wedding."

"If it really bothers you that much, we could push for a small service," offered Jack.

"No, I wouldn't do that to everyone. Supposedly there are several pools that have to be settled, you know?" claimed Sam.

"So are we okay with the plan then?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Sam replied.

Changing clothes, Sam reluctantly pulled her engagement ring from her finger and placed it back in the box. Before they left the tent though, Jack pulled Sam to him and gave her a kiss, but wouldn't let her out of his arms until after she agreed to one thing.

"Sam, promise me that you won't worry about the whole kids thing until after the wedding. I can tell that you've been thinking about it and I don't want you to waste all that brain power on it. We can't change what's happened, so promise me you'll think only good thoughts leading up to the wedding," Jack said.

Wondering how he could read her so well, she nodded her head in agreement, and sealed the deal with a kiss before the two stepped out of their tent and went their respective ways for their assignments.

----

Throughout the day, Sam and Jack had passed the word that everyone was invited to a 'family' dinner that night. Of course, this led to there being almost 100 people crammed into a room off of the civilian mess hall. After the meal, it was Sam and Jack who stood at the front of the room, arm in arm and requested everyone's attention.

"I know many of you have bets on when we would finally 'get together', so rather than leave you all wondering, Sam and I have an announcement to make. We're getting married."

Shrieks of joy, calls of "It's about time" and "Congratulations" could be heard a mile away.

----

As Jack had predicted, telling the command staff had resulted in demands for a large wedding that everyone, including 'New Earth's' allies could attend. Sam agreed with them, on the condition that the wedding took place that weekend, which only gave them 3 days to get everything together. She figured that there was no way they could inform all of their allies by that time, let alone get them all on base and she would get a smaller wedding that way.

Unfortunately for her, the Generals and President insisted on throwing aside the planned mission schedule to send the SG teams out delivering wedding invites. Many of the teams returned with guests who were quickly given temporary quarters.

By the end of the day, Sam was ready to forget the idea of a wedding and just elope, to which Jack just laughed.

"It'll be fine Sam. You won't even notice the 3,000 other people there," which caused Sam's eyes to flash.

"You aren't the one who has been asked multiple times today what you're wearing for her wedding!"

"True. But look at the bright side. We don't have to send out wedding invitations or make any other real preparations except showing up for the wedding and rehearsal dinner. And we get a week long honeymoon away from all of them," Jack said, attempting to placate his fiancé, "And I have it on good authority, that the Thor made a special delivery today of a wedding dress that was worn by your mother".

"How did he know?" she asked.

Jack attempted to look innocent, and failed miserably, as he said, "I may have mentioned to him the last time he was here asking about what other supplies we needed, that you would probably need a wedding dress eventually, and he promised to pick it up. It got delivered with the rest of the supplies today."

Sam smiled and rewarded Jack's thoughtfulness with a kiss that made his toes curl.

----

Jack stood in his dress blues next to Daniel and Teal'c, his best men, as he waited for Sam at the alter, where President Hayes would be marrying them. He didn't have to wait long. Cassie walked down the aisle first, followed closely behind by Izzy, who literally skipped down the aisle to get to Jack who she insisted on giving a kiss before anyone could stop her. Jack didn't mind though, despite her parents' looks of horror and embarrassment. Jack just gave in to the girl before giving her a small push towards 'Cousin Cassie'.

When the wedding march began to play and the crowd rose, Jack starred down the aisle to see a vision in white, accompanied by General Hammond, walking down the aisle towards him.

She was wearing her mother's wedding dress and carrying a bouquet of violet-like flowers. When they got to Jack, Hammond kissed Sam's cheek before placing Sam's hand in Jack and whispered, "Best of luck to both of you, you deserve this," before sitting down with Mark and his family as the President began the ceremony.

"We are gathered here today to witness the union of two people, Major General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter…," and he continued talking until he got to the part where they two exchanged vows, which they had written themselves.

"Sam, from the day you walked into that briefing room and into my life, I felt like I was being forced to take a scientist who happened to be an Air Force officer. Little did I know that General Hammond was gifting my team with one of the most gifted combat capable Air Force Officers who happened to be a scientific genius. Over the years, we became friends and even when I couldn't admit it to anyone else; I realized that I loved you. I promise that I will always love, honor, respect, and cherish you for the rest of our lives, but most importantly, I will always 'care about you a lot more than I'm supposed to'," said Jack to a teary eyed Sam.

"Jack, the first time we met, I thought you were an arrogant, selfish, sarcastic man," after a pause she continued, "and I was right." Laughter could be heard throughout the crowd, especially from those who knew Jack O'Neill, but Sam continued "But you are that and a whole lot more. You're honest, trustworthy, and a good man to the very core. Childish at times, but I wouldn't change a thing about you. I love you and my heart has always truly belonged to you and only you. I promise to always love, honor, respect, and cherish you for the rest of our lives as I too, will always 'care about you more than I'm supposed to'."

A quick exchange of rings and the President announced, "You may now kiss the bride," to which Jack dipped Sam in a kiss which reminded Jack of the one from the time loops and he was pretty sure that he experienced hearing loss from the cheers that rang out after the President said, "I give you for the very first time General and Colonel Jack O'Neill."

----

The wedding reception turned into one huge party where Jack and Sam spent more time than they wanted playing the good diplomats. Receiving congratulations from all of their allies took too long, and the only dance they managed to share was the first dance of the day. The only other time they got out of their diplomatic duties was when they were called upon to cut the cake, which was the only food they both managed to eat the entire afternoon.

Both were extremely glad when they were permitted to escape to their tent, although they had to endure going through a sea of people that stretched from the field where the reception was being held to their tent.

Secure in the privacy of their tent, the collapsed on their bed, as someone had thought to push the two smaller beds together to make one sometime during that day.

"I'm so glad that is over with" Jack finally said.

"Yeah, someone should make sure to tell Daniel and Teal'c that if they ever decided to get married, they really need to elope. I love the fact that everyone wanted to celebrate our marriage, but we spent more time doing the political stuff today then we did celebrating our marriage," exclaimed Sam.

Jack stood up and offered Sam his hand as he pulled her to her feet. A quick change of clothes later and Jack spoke in to the Asgard communication device, a gift from Thor, "We're ready Thor." The couple was beamed away in a flash of white light to Thor's ship, where the little grey alien gave them a quick glance before beaming them away again to a remote location on 'New Earth'. When Sam and Jack had discussed where they would go on their honeymoon, they knew that they could have their pick of any planet in the universe but they had opted to take the offer from the Asgard to transport them somewhere remote on 'New Earth'.

What Jack didn't tell Sam was that the command staff was going to make use of the Asgard transportation technology when they constructed the new living quarters by putting the homes as far away from the base as possible, and Thor had already 'delivered' their home. Jack figured that if their home just happened to be on the piece of proerty closest to the lake and with best scenery, no one would object. They couldn't exactly ask Thor to move his present for his favorite human couple now could they?

So when Thor beamed the two of them down in front of a rustic yet well kept cabin, the gasp that came from Sam was no surprise to Jack.

Sam's eyes danced with joy as she looked at Jack, "Jack," she asked, "Where are we?"

"We're still on 'New Earth'," he supplied.

"I didn't realize that there were any houses, let alone cabins on the planet," Sam said.

"There weren't until yesterday. Thor decided that we needed a real wedding present from the Asgard," Jack explained, before quietly adding after he had circled his arms around Sam, "And I think he felt bad because he couldn't help us with the one thing we wanted the most".

Though she didn't cry this time, there was a brief look of pain that flashed across her face, which only made Jack hold Sam closer.

//Flashback//

Despite Jack's reassurances about kids, Sam had went and talked with Carolyn Lam. Carolyn had repeated what Sam already knew, that even if she went off of birth control, which she had already done, the naquadah in her blood would probably still make it next to impossible to have children. Add to that the time it would take for her body to flush all of the chemicals and hormones from the eight years of being on birth control, and Carolyn had given her an estimate of at least a year before having a child would even be possible. Even then, Carolyn had explained, she put Sam's chances of conceiving a child at less than 5.

While that had upset Sam, and even if she wouldn't admit it to Jack, they both held out hope for help from the Nox or the Asgard. The Nox had offered an apology in being unable to help, saying that they were unfamiliar with the naquadah and its effects on humans.

When Thor had beamed the both of them up to his ship after they had requested a meeting, was when Sam thought her heart would break. After conducting all SGC related business, Jack had come right out and asked Thor, "Sam and I want to have children, yet our doctors have said that the naquadah in her blood is going to make this extremely difficult. Is there anything that you can do to help us?"

Sam had never been more appreciative of her fiancé than she was at that moment. Jack had asked the hard question in such a way that he reassured her that she wasn't alone in this. This wasn't her problem, but their problem. Any lingering doubt that she had of her upcoming nuptials was instantly erased.

If it was possible for an Asgard to look sad, then the emotion on Thor's face was definitely one of sadness when he replied, "Unfortunately O'Neill, Colonel Carter is the only one the Asgard have ever come across with this condition and there is nothing we can do to assist you in this matter."

Despite wanting to cry, Sam held it together and whispered, "Thank you for trying Thor," as Jack nodded his agreement. Without being asked, Thor transported the couple to their tent, where Jack had held her until she couldn't cry anymore. If she hadn't been crying so hard, Sam would have noticed that not all of the tears came from her.

//End Flashback//

"So this is our house?" asked Sam.

"Yeah," Jack cleared his throat and began to speak again. "It's actually my cabin from Minnesota. Thor beamed the whole thing here. I kinda thought that you wouldn't mind having the first house outside of camp."

"Jack, this place is like halfway around the planet! How are we going to get to work everyday if we live here?" Sam was almost laughing at him.

"I figured we'd use the Asgard beaming platform that they're installing at the end of this week," he claimed with a straight face.

"Jack!" she laughed before kissing him.

"So I take it the new house will be acceptable?" he questioned.

"Depends," she smiled wickedly, "how big is the bed?"

Jack's eyes widened and a smile slowly filled his face as Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door of their new home.


	36. Adding to the Family

The few times that Sam had woken up in Jack O'Neill's arms were great, but waking up in his arms married to him was the perfect start to any day, at least by Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter-O'Neill's standards. Although the fact that the man was tracing patterns on her back and placing soft kisses in her hair was probably the reason she was waking up, Sam didn't mind.

It was a long time before they ate breakfast that morning and every morning that week.

During their honeymoon, they spent much of their time in bed, or lounging by the lake (which actually had fish in it), and just being together. They talked and laughed, hugged and kissed, and made plans for their future, one of which Jack was very glad he had investigated.

//Flashback//

When Ba'al had attacked, Jack had ordered everyone on base through the Stargate. While he never regretted this decision, it made for future difficulties as there had been several groups of school children on field trips to NORAD that day. It wasn't until he spent time with Izzy's preschool class that he realized how some of these children had become orphans because of his decision. He had saved their lives but had left them without a family. While most of the children had found homes with 'adoptive' parents, a few of the younger children were now being cared for by the older kids-all of whom had been left un-adopted.

Spending time with those kids whenever he could, quickly become one of Jack's favorite activities. It had gotten to the point that if Jack wanted to hide, he went to his office because everyone thought that he wouldn't be there.

On the last full day they had at their cabin, Jack had broached the subject of kids with Sam.

"You know how before I told you that we could adopt children if we were told that we couldn't have children." Seeing her questioning gaze and her nod, he continued. "Well, before I left I did some checking and there are quite a few kids here that are in need of parents."

"If you're asking if I'm still interested in the idea of children, even if they aren't really our children Jack, the answer is yes," Sam offered with a smile. "I just think that we need to discuss some things before we take on a child, like how we're going to make time for a child with our current responsibilities for one."

"Is that your only objection? 'Cause I'm willing to make some sacrifices to have a family," claimed Jack.

Slightly disgusted with Jack, Sam began pacing, "You can't be the only one making the sacrifices for our family. If having a family is the only thing you really want, then why did you marry me?"

Rather than let her think too much, Jack got up and placed his hands on Sam's shoulders, forcing her to stop. He reached his hand for her chin and titled her head so that he could see her face. "Sam," he began, "the only family I want is the one that involves you. If you aren't ready for our family to be more than me and you, then we'll wait until you're ready."

Sam felt bad then for even insinuating that he hadn't married her because he loved her. "Jack, I didn't mean that I didn't want a family, I just meant that we shouldn't jump into this without considering everything. I grew up without a mother and my dad wasn't around that much. I don't want that for our children," she explained.

"Me neither," he admitted as pulled her head under his chin, wrapping his arms around Sam, hugging her to his body, "Me neither."

//End Flashback//

Somehow that conversation had finalized the idea of a family, for the both of them. A silent agreement had been reached to at least meet the children who were in need of a family when they went back to reality.

----

Right on time, he walked through the door to her lab, and she was almost ready.

"Just one more minute Jack, I'm almost done," Sam said.

"Take your time, I don't want you blowing up the base because you were rushing," Jack replied.

Once she had managed to finish up the two walked together out of the base, respectful of where they were by not having any physical contact. Once off the base though, Jack had no reserves about wrapping his arm around his wife as they walked towards the school where a crowd of children waited them.

They began their visit in Izzy's classroom, because well, they hadn't told anyone that they were looking to adopt, so they were visiting under the guise of seeing their favorite niece. The whole class was excited to see 'General Jack' as they had come to call the regular visitor to their class and 'Colonel Sam' was welcomed as well.

They spent the next two hours playing with the children before the kids took up the chant of asking for a story, something which obviously had occurred many times before.

Sam noticed how Izzy took the position of honor in Jack's lap, while several other children scampered for the seats next to him. Yet one little boy with black hair, blue eyes, and a big smile had no problem being the one to sit in Sam's lap. He had stuck close to Sam all afternoon, never uttering a word, but always giving her a giant grin whenever she paid him special attention.

Together the two Air Force officers told the children the story of meeting the Nox, leaving out the part about dying. The children obviously enjoyed the story, laughing in all the right parts.

Eventually however, Jack and Sam had to leave and return to their other responsibilities. It took almost 30 minutes for them to disentangle themselves from the classroom. Before Sam could leave though, the class aide pulled her aside and told her, "I haven't seen that little boy smile like that the whole time he's been here. I've never heard him say more than a few words, none of which really told us anything. Usually he just goes through the day, quiet and unnoticed and without any relative to ask, we aren't sure if this is normal for him, despite the doctor saying there's nothing wrong with him. We're really not sure where he came from or how he ended up here."

"Where is he living?" Sam asked, starting to get her hopes up.

"I think he's in one of the tents with some older kids, but he really doesn't get very much attention there. I think if he was adopted, he'd really improve and probably start talking," she commented, before apologizing as she ran to stop one of the children from jumping off of a table.

Sam and Jack didn't have time to discuss their visit until much later that evening, as they were sitting on the roof with Jack's telescope, gazing at the stars.

"So, did you like any of the kids?" Jack finally got up the nerve to ask as Sam snuggled into his side a little more.

Sam pretended to carefully consider the question before answering, "Uh-hu."

"Anyone in particular?"

"Uh-hu," she responded again.

"You gonna tell me which one, or will I have to torture you to get it out of you?" Jack grinned, waiting for her reply.

"The little boy that sat in my lap all afternoon, he was my favorite," she finally whispered.

"Yeah, I thought so," Jack replied in a quiet voice, "Whenever the other kids would let me away from them, he always seemed to enjoy having me around. He's friends with Izzy too. Do you think he's the one?"

Carefully considering her words before speaking, Sam replied, "Do you like him?"

"Sam, I want to take each and every kid that I meet home with me," he claimed honestly, "But I will settle for the one that you will let me have."

Sam dissolved in giggles, thinking that he looked and sounded like a little boy who had brought home stray animals asking his mom if he could keep them. "Jack," she offered, "I think we'll start with one and see how it goes from there."

"You're serious? You want to see about making him part of our family?" Jack questioned, almost in disbelief.

Sam placed her hand on Jack's shoulder before leaning in and kissing him. "I think that he'll make the perfection addition to the O'Neill family. The only thing left to do is to see how he feels about it," she claimed, slightly worried about what the little boy might have to say about the issue.

----

It turned out that the little boy didn't have anything to say about joining the O'Neill household, but he did break out in a huge grin and literally attempted to tackle Sam as she told him that he was coming home with her and 'General Jack'. As she lifted the boy into her arms, she looked up to see Jack there offering her a huge grin that matched the one on her face.

The little boy had a huge smile on his face the whole evening, and didn't seem at all concerned when they used the Asgard beaming technology to go home that afternoon. Even when he was introduced to Teal'c, Daniel, and Cam, the young boy never quit grinning. Eventually though, it was Cam who was able to draw words out of the little boy. Cam and the little boy were in the backyard, playing with toy airplanes and cars while the adults sat on the porch going over some paperwork and laying plans for the next week's training schedule.

"Little man, what is your name?" Cam asked as he attempted to draw words out the boy, just as everyone had been doing since their introduction.

Much to Cam's surprise, the boy put down the X-302 model that he had been playing with and walked over to whisper something in Cam's ear.

"Really?" asked Cam, "Can I tell everyone else?"

The little boy seemed to consider the question before nodding his agreement. Cam, who was enjoying his role as 'Uncle Cam' scooped the little boy up and placed him on his shoulders as he tickled the child, getting squeals of laughter from the kid.

Coming to the porch, he removed the boy from his shoulders and set him down. The little kid scampered into Sam's lap, and without a second thought threw his arms around Sam's neck and said plain as day, "You aren't going to send me back are you? I don't wanna go back to wiving wiff the big kids."

Although surprised by the boy's words, Sam immediately comforted the child by saying, "Not unless you want to go back. I want you to stay here with me."

"Forever?" the little child questioned.

"Forever," reassured Jack, who by this time had made his way around to be beside his wife and son.

"Good, cause I luv you and I don't wanna weave," the boy claimed.

Despite her best attempts, tears were now flowing down Sam's cheeks as she whispered, "We love you too little one, we love you too."

Jack placed his hand on the little boy's back and smiled down and the child that had stolen his heart. "Since you're going to staying with us now, how about you tell us your name?" asked Jack.

"Jacob Charles Smith, but I wike Jake," the little boy declared.

"Well, Jacob Smith, welcome to our family," said Teal'c.

Suddenly, Sam realized that she had found the one thing that was missing from her life.

----

Later that night, Jack was lying in bed holding his wife, when he said, "You know, I always thought that if we had a son, we would name him after your dad. It's almost like someone knew and sent Jacob to us."

Sam turned around so she could face her husband and said, "You wanted to name our son after my dad?"

Pulling her closer to him, Jack replied honestly, "I loved and respected your dad Sam. I can't imagine anyone else who I would rather name a child of mine after."

Sam starred into her husband eyes before reaching down and kissing her husband with such feeling that they started something that wasn't finished until the early morning hours.

----

Jacob quickly became part of the O'Neill household. He learned to accept that his family was slightly different and much bigger than his classmates, except for Izzy, who was of course part of his family.

About six months later, not long after his fourth birthday, Jake approached his parents with several important questions one night when they were alone after dinner.

"Sam, how come I don't have a mommy and a daddy like Izzy?" the little boy questioned.

Realizing how important this discussion was to Jake, Jack joined his son and wife on the couch and began to talk, "You are a very special little boy Jake. Most of your friends, like Izzy, came here with their mom, dad, and the rest of their family. Your mom and dad wanted to make sure that you were safe so they sent you here. I wish they could be here with you now, but they can't."

"Why not?" The little boy asked innocently.

"Because they had to go away for a long, long time Jake," explained Sam.

"Oh. Okay," accepted Jake before continuing with his next question, "Then are you my new mommy and daddy?"

At this point Jack and Sam exchanged a glance, before Jack continued, explaining things just like Sam and him had discussed already. "See Jake, Sam and I wanted a child so much and when we met you, we knew that we wanted you to be part of our family."

"You don't have to call us mom and dad if you don't want to, but you can if you want to," Sam added.

"Okay," accepted Jake, who gave his parents a hug and a kiss before running off to play with his new toys.

Sam and Jack just starred after their son, as Jack wrapped his wife up in his arms, and said, "Well that went better than I thought it would."

----

It took Jake quite some time before he asked the other question that Sam and Jack had diligently prepared for.

After a night spent with friends and family celebrating Cam and Carolyn's engagement, Jack was tucking his son into bed, when the small boy asked, "Daddy, why is my last name Smith and yours and mommy's O'Neill? And how come some people sometime call mommy Carter?"

Already knowing how to answer the second question easily, Jack explained, "Well Jake, before your mom married me and we got you, her last name was Carter. Now her last name is O'Neill, but to keep people from getting confused, she still uses Carter. It's kinda like a nickname, you know we call you Jake even though your real name is Jacob."

"Oh," acknowledged Jake.

"Your last name is Smith, because that was your real parents' last name," Jack further explained. Despite hearing Sam right outside the door, Jack continued talking, knowing that she would let him explain this. "If you want, we could change your last name to O'Neill."

"Okay Daddy. Can I have my story now?" asked Jake.

"Sure son," Jack replied as he pulled a book off of Jake's dresser and sat down to read with the boy until Jake was fast asleep.

----

Later that night, Jack snuggled with Sam and asked, "So did I do good?"

Sam dropped a kiss on her husbands lips before cheekily replying, "Yes, sir," which led to some night time activities that they were thankful Jake slept through.


	37. Careers and Family

SG-1 went on many missions over the next year, luckily never coming back with anything more than a few bumps and bruises, except for the one time that Daniel broke his arm. Thankfully, the Asgard had decided that enough was enough, and shortly after the first wedding anniversary for Jack and Sam, had went after each of the remaining Goa'uld. The few that were left posed only a limited threat, and the biggest issue in the galaxy was helping all of the newly freed Jaffa.

Sam and Cam had managed to find a comfortable balance as co-commanders. Occasionally, Cam even led the team by himself as Sam's abilities were needed elsewhere. For the first time, she was actually considering giving up command of SG-1 to Cam for more time with her family and to devote her full attention to the Scientific Technology duties which were taking up more and more of her time.

She drew the line after two consecutive weeks of work days where she failed to make it home until after Jake had been fed and tucked into bed. As she collapsed into bed that night, thinking about how Jake was starting kindergarten the in a few days, she knew that she and her husband needed to talk.

----

The next morning, she woke up, significantly less tired than she had been the night before, to a note on the bedside table from Jack.

_Sam_

_Happy Birthday! I'm taking Jake over to Mark's for the day. _

_Don't move until I get back! That's an order Carter!_

_Love,_

_Jack_

Sam just smiled and snuggled back under the covers of her bed, waiting for her husband to come home. Sam thought about how much things had changed since their upcoming 2 year anniversary.

No longer were they the only family that didn't live within the confines of the original camp. Three large apartment buildings had been beamed off of Earth and brought to 'New Earth'. Several of the larger families also lived in newly constructed houses. The Asgard had offered beaming technology in the form of platforms which permitted people to move from place to place with ease. Unfortunately, Sam was the only one who truly understood this technology, which meant when it broke, she was the one who got the call to go fix it.

Jack was really enjoying his position teaching at the Academy, and even more so, his time with his son. Jack fully knew that Jake was his mother's son and didn't mind being second best. Lately though he had noticed that Jake was missing his mom as much as Jack was missing his wife. It was time for Jack to have a talk with his wife.

----

Jack arrived home to find his wife still in bed with the family photo album. Silently, he kicked off his shoes and stripped down to his boxers before crawling into bed with her again, even if it was mid-morning. Already, she was to the middle of the album which had pictures from Cam and Carolyn's wedding. Jake and Izzy had served as ring boy and flower girl, much to the delight of both children. Sam had been teary eyed to see her son so dressed up. She snuggled up to Jack as she looked at the next picture, a formal family picture taken the same day as the Mitchell wedding. She smiled, remembering how hard it had been to get Jake to keep his tie on until after the photographer had snapped the photo after the wedding.

"He's growing up so fast," Sam whispered.

"Yeah, he is," agreed Jack.

"And I'm missing a lot of it," Sam added.

"You do the best that you can," Jack quickly said, projecting more assurances then he really felt with his voice.

"But I'm still not there. Jack, I haven't been home in time to tuck our only child into bed any night for the last two weeks. Only two of those nights was I off world," Sam complained.

"Sam you're a Colonel in the Air Force, the leader of SG-1, and the head of the Scientific Technology Department. You've got a lot on your plate. Add a son and a husband to that and I'm not surprised you don't make it home as much as you want," confided Jack.

"I know, I'm just wondering if it's time for a change," Sam admitted.

"Whatever you do, you know you can count on my support," Jack offered.

"I know," Sam accepted. "There's something else we need to talk about though."

Jack sat in silence, waiting for Sam to continue.

"I talked to Carolyn the other day. You know that my cycle has been really messed up ever since I went off of the birth control. It's never been regular, and lately, it's become even more irregular. Carolyn said that my chances of having children are probably down to almost zero now," Sam explained as tears began to fill her eyes.

Jack took the photo album from her hands and placed it on the nightstand before pulling Sam into his arms. Rather than attempt to quiet her, he let her cry until there were no tears left. Only when she wasn't crying anymore did he begin to speak, "Sam, I love you and only you. Before we got married, I told you that having you would be enough for me. That hasn't changed. If it's possible, I love you more now than the day I married you Sam. Together we have a son. He may not be our biological son, but he's still our son."

"I love you Jack, forever and always," promised Sam as she passionately kissed her husband. One thing led to another and it was quite a bit later before the couple got out of bed.

----

Over the next few days, Sam talked with Cam, General Hammond, General Landry, Jack, and President Henry Hayes. When Sam had talked to Cam, she told him that she was stepping down as commander of SG-1. Although initially shocked, he confirmed that Carolyn and him had discussed starting a family and that once that happened; he had considered scaling back his field work too.

When Sam spoke with Landry, she officially informed him that she wished to resign as commander of SG-1 and become more involved with the alien technology, specifically working with the recruits at the Academy to train them to work on the technology. Landry accepted her wishes and acknowledged her recommendation to make Cam a full Colonel and leader of SG-1. By mutual agreement, she would remain as the leader of SG-1 for the next three months as they searched for a replacement for the team.

Sam repeated these wishes to General Hammond, despite the fact he was only involved in an advisory capacity.

After all of this she had one more stop to make, President Hayes. Hayes welcomed her and encouraged her desire to educate the future students on the different alien technology. He personally promised her that he would see to her transfer and also accepted her recommendation regarding Cam.

Finally, Sam went to see Jack who was at the end of his day. Together, they went to the school to pick up their son from school. The little boy was so excited to see his mom and dad that Jacob O'Neill almost toppled his mother over in his enthusiasm.

Later that night, the three sat around the dinner table together. Sam told her family, "I'm going to try really hard to be around a lot more."

While Jack knew exactly what Sam was talking about, Jake was just happy that his mom was going to be around more.

Later that night, Sam tucked the little boy into bed and before he drifted off to sleep, he said, "I love you mom," which only made Sam's smile bigger as she said back, "Love you more."

After he was finally asleep, Sam crawled into bed with Jack, smiling as her husband's arms immediately shot out to pull her to him. "So, are you okay," he questioned.

"Yeah, I am," she claimed, "It was time my family became the most important thing in my life, and I'm ready to quit making regular trips through the Stargate."

They drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

----

The three months flew by until Sam's last day as the leader of SG-1 arrived. The previous day had marked her last mission as commander of SG-1. This day found her team in full dress uniform standing in front of a small crowd of SG personnel in the gateroom as the President, General Landry, General Dixon, and General O'Neill began a series of promotions for her teammates. Dave Dixon had been promoted from Colonel not long after Jack and Sam had adopted Jake. Jack had found that his duties training recruits were more than enough to keep him occupied, especially as he wanted to spend time with Jake, so Dixon had been promoted to assume co-command of the base with Landry, something that offered Dave slightly more regular hours to spend with his own family.

General Landry began, "As you all know, we are gathered here today to celebrate a change that will be occurring on our flagship team, before we get to that though, I have several long overdue promotions to present. First and foremost, is the promotion of Lieutenants Blackridge and Green to Captain." Sam quickly stepped forwards with Cam to assist in the changing of insignias as the two officers received their promotions.

"Next, is the promotion of Major Tracey Michaels to Lt. Colonel," Dixon announced. A shocked expression lit the face of Tracey Michaels as Landry and Jack changed out the insignia on her uniform and returned her salute.

At this point Jack stepped to the podium and spoke, "All right, time to put the rest of SG-1 out of their misery as they find out who their new commander is. Despite rumors that we would brining in someone new, the Generals came to a consensus that the new leader should have previous SG command experience. So it is my honor to announce the promotion of Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell to full Colonel and endorse him as the new leader of SG-1."

If Michaels had been surprised, Cam was shocked to the point that Sam had to give him a huge shove forward. General O'Neill and General Landry changed out the insignia themselves, each offering their own private congratulations. Landry even offered his son-in-law a quick pat on the back.

Only at this point did the President step to the podium and speak, "Last of all I'd like to announce that while Colonel Carter will be stepping down as the leader of SG-1, she has accepted a formal command position as the head of the Scientific Technology Department along with an appointment to General O'Neill's staff for the training of SG recruits in the area of alien technology. With this change in position, it is my honor to promote Colonel Samantha Carter to Brigadier General Samantha Carter." Sam's jaw hit the floor as she realized the honor she was being given and this time is was Cam that got to do the shoving. She approached the podium where Jack and the President changed the insignia on her uniform themselves.

Sam took the opportunity to whisper to Jack, "You knew about this didn't you?"

"I plead the fifth," Jack said with a huge grin on his face and glint in his eye that told her he had known.

The President took a step back as he asked her to repeat her oath, which would finalize the promotion. "I, insert name," he read.

"I Samantha Carter-O'Neill," she said, and after that she really didn't remember saying much as she saw the huge grin on her husband's face.

Again, General Landry stepped to the podium, saying "The last piece of news that I have for today is to announce the appointment of Lt. Mackenzie Williams to SG-1. Congratulations to you all, keep up the good work. Dismissed."

Applause and cheers quickly broke out throughout the room as people gathered to congratulate the various members of SG-1 on their promotions. Jack and Sam even broke their 'on base' rule and shared a long hug and quick kiss.

When Cam approached, he saluted Sam, and she returned his salute before she pulled him into a hug, whispering words of congratulations in his ear.

Their celebration was broken up by a small boy who ran forward, begging for attention from his parents. "Mommy, Mommy," he called, as Sam reached down to pick him up, "You have stars just like Daddy now."

Chuckles of amusement came from the bystanders, as Jack replied, "Yeah she does young man, but aren't you supposed to be in school?" Jack asked as he ruffled his son's hair.

"For crying out loud Dad," Jake said, which only brought more laughter from the crowd, "Grandpa George came and got me and told me that I needed be here to watch Mom get her stars."

"Well, how about you, me, and mom go get some lunch before you have to be back in school?" Jack offered.

"Do I have to?" the little boy asked.

"Yes," Sam declared, not wanting to let her husband attempt to find a way to keep their son out of school.

----

It was a couple of weeks later that Thor beamed her up unexpectedly from getting Jake ready for school, something that was a common occurrence in the O'Neill household, and offered some surprising news.

When Sam realized where she was, she turned around to greet Thor. After exchanging greetings and the necessary communication with the O'Neill household to explain that Thor had indeed beamed her away, Thor had several questions for her.

"General Carter," Thor began, "have you been ill recently?"

Sam considered his question before replying, "I had a touch of the flu last week, but other than that, I haven't noticed anything." Worry began to fill her heart, as she asked, "Is there something wrong with me Thor?"

Rather than directly answer her question, Thor explained, "Whenever someone is beamed aboard my ship, a biological scan is performed on them. My scanner detected a difference from your previous scans."

"Is it something bad Thor?" Sam again asked.

"I do not believe it to be bad thing General Carter. Allow me to display the two scans for you," offered Thor.

To Sam, the difference in the two scans was easily detected and at that point, she asked, "Thor, can you beam me to Dr. Lam's office?"

In a flash of white light Sam found herself standing in Carolyn's office.

----

Although Dr. Carolyn Lam saw many strange things in her work at the SGC, she was not quite used to people showing up in her office in flashes of white light. Yet, today, she was sitting at her desk when Brigadier General Samantha Carter did just that.

"Sam, is there something I can help you with?" Carolyn asked, not quite sure what Sam could need.

"Yeah, um, did anything unusual show up in my latest blood work?" Sam questioned, not quite sure how to broach this question with her friend and doctor.

"Let me grab your chart," Carolyn offered. She soon returned with Sam's very large file and looked through the top few pages which were the most recent, "Here, have a look. I don't see anything that's very strange. Your hormone levels have been slowly on the rise the past few months and made a rather large jump recently, but I attributed that to the adjustment to the lack of birth control that your body is still going through. It's taking longer than I thought, but without knowing the full effects of the naquadah in your system, I could never really tell you how long that adjustment period would take."

"What does the naquadah do to my blood work," Sam questioned aloud, trying not to let her excitement show as she handed the results back to Carolyn.

A quick glance at them told Carolyn all she needed to know, "Well for as long as I've seen your blood work, along with Dr. Fraiser, your results would put you above normal, to the point that your normal blood work almost always indicates that you're pregnant. Can I ask why you needed to know this?"

Sam seemed lost in thought for a moment before she answered the question, "Oh, Thor beamed me on board his ship and he said that there were some inconsistencies in my bio-scan compared with the last time I was on board. I just wanted to make sure that it was the same thing you had seen. So the rise in hormones isn't anything I need to be concerned about?"

"No Sam, for you, you are perfectly normal, nothing to be concerned about," Carolyn reassured.

"Good," Sam smiled, "You and Cam are still okay with keeping Jake for a night while Jack and I go away overnight for our anniversary next week, right?"

"I know Cam is looking forward to it, and I'm hoping that Jake really wears him out so that Cam reconsiders his idea of 5 or 6 kids," claimed Carolyn as the two woman shared a laugh.

"Jack originally said the same thing, but things went so well with Jake, and we got busy with other things. We agreed not to adopt another child. Sometimes I think he's missing out, but we're happy with our family," Sam admitted before thanking Carolyn, speaking into the communicator, and disappearing once more in a flash of white light.

Only then did it occur to Carolyn to wonder which he Sam had been referring to.

----

AN: I am not a doctor, nor do I have any real medical knowledge so I just made up all of the medical related stuff. I apologize to anyone in the medical world who I might have offended by doing this.


	38. Sam Explains

For the next week, General Samantha Carter walked around with a huge grin on her face, and everyone presumed that it was because of her recent promotion, or the upcoming overnight trip to celebrate her anniversary. While both of these things made Sam happy, only she and Thor knew the real reason behind that grin.

While Jack and Sam packed their bags for their overnight, and reassured Jake that they would be back the following day, they were interrupted by a knock at their door. Sam opened the door to find Cam there with a huge smile on his face, "So where is my nephew who I am going to spoil rotten for the next 24 hours?"

Sam attempted to send him a mock glare but failed miserably as Jake came running to greet his 'Uncle' and ended up saying, "Just remember Cam, what comes around goes around."

At that point, Jack walked in and grabbed his wife from behind, wrapping her in his arms, before saying, "Carter, what have I told you about clichés."

"Well sir, I believe you may have mentioned a dislike of them in the past," Sam replied before kissing her husband.

Cam decided that now would be a good time to escape before the two forgot they had company, so he interrupted them by asking, "Jake are you ready to go?"

The little boy ran off to grab his bag and returned to give his parents hugs and kisses before grabbing the hand of his uncle and calling, "Bye mom, Bye dad. Love you."

Sam and Jack waved to their son before disappearing in a flash of white light.

----

"Thor," Jack called, "Good to see you again."

"It is O'Neill. I have already transported your things to the location General Carter picked out. I will remain in orbit during your vacation, if you need to contact me, General Carter has a communication device," Thor stated.

"Thank you Thor," they both called before disappearing in a flash of white light again.

----

Sam and Jack spent the afternoon lounging and fishing by the small, remote lake that contained a few fish. They had just finished a campfire dinner of burnt fish, when Sam finally addressed the issue that she had waited for over a week to tell her husband about.

"Jack," she questioned softly, as she snuggled into his embrace, "are you happy?"

Still not quite sure how to deal with Sam even after being married for two years now, he replied, "Of course I'm happy Sam. I'm spent the day fishing with my beautiful, sexy wife and now I've got the woman I love with all my heart in my arms. There is nothing that could make me happier than I am right now."

Attempting to egg him on, Sam asked, "Are you sure there's nothing that would make you happier?"

Still not understanding Sam's questions, Jack added, "Sam, I am married to the woman of my dreams, and together we have an amazing son, who may be adopted, but I love him as though he was our own."

"So you wouldn't change a thing?" questioned Sam.

At this point, Jack was starting to get frustrated with Sam. So he insisted, "Sam, I love you. I love Jake. Sure I wish we had done this sooner, and there are some days when I wish that we had another child, specifically that little girl named Grace. But, and I emphasize this, BUT I would not trade what I have with the two of you for anything."

Suddenly it dawned on Jack that Sam must be questioning their marriage, so he rambled, "Sam, are you unhappy, I mean, I know that you just stepped down from SG-1, and everything and I know how much you loved that. If you want to go back there again, then I'll support your decision. I'll do whatever I need to do to make you happy and I'm sorry since I'm not holding up my end of the bargain."

Sam's eyes widened in shock that Jack might even think that she was unhappy in her marriage, but was slightly confused by his last statement. "Jack," she questioned, "what do you mean 'not holding up your end of the bargain'."

Jack looked slightly downcast as a shadow played across his face, but was quickly hidden behind his military mask. "I promised you when we got married that I would support you and let you make your own choices and decisions. I can't lie to you and say that I wasn't happy about you getting out of the field, because I was. The whole time you were out there, I wanted you safe at home with me and Jake. I'll do whatever you want me to do Sam; just don't take Jake away from me."

Sam was horrified. Jack thought that she would take his son away from him. She moved her hand up to his face and turned his head so that he could see he face, and she plainly stated, "Jack, I would never dream of taking our son away from you. And I'm not going anywhere. I love my new job, I'm sure I'll miss going off world, but that's why I'm working with you, so I can still occasionally go on those training missions."

Jack felt a huge weight lift off of his shoulders. Still confused though, he asked, "Then what was with all the questions?"

Sam allowed a small smile to show on her face as she said, "I was wondering what you'd say if I told you I wanted to add a daughter to our family."

Any confusion or doubt that Jack felt was instantly gone as a huge grin filled his face. "Sam, are you sure you want another kid? I mean by now, there are only a few kids left that haven't been adopted and they're all Jake's age or older," Jack claimed.

"I wasn't talking about adopting," Sam claimed quietly. Then she sat back, waiting for what she said to click with her husband.

"You're not." Jack was horribly confused now as he asked, "Then how are we going to have a daughter?"

Sam waited patiently as Jack attempted to figure it out, and eventually let a small giggle escape her mouth as she watched Jack puzzle through this problem.

"Sam, I don't get it," he finally admitted and enjoyed the huge grin that lit her face.

Reaching down, Sam grabbed one of Jack's hands with her own and squeezed it. "Remember my Birthday three months ago?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jack confirmed, letting his grin grow even larger as he remembered how they had spent the biggest part of the day in bed, and then in the shower.

"Remember what I told you?" Sam asked, attempting to help Jack connect the dots.

A small look of sadness crossed Jack's face as he remembered the news Sam had delivered on her own birthday, "Yeah, I remember," he admitted as he hugged his wife a little closer.

"What if I told you that you gave me the best birthday present ever that day?" Sam asked, still attempting to lead Jack on, everything in her wanting to just tell him, but after him not telling her about her forthcoming promotion to General, Sam figured Jack deserved it.

"The locket?" Jack asked still not understanding what his wife's birthday had to do with Sam's desire to add a daughter to their family. "Sam, I don't get it."

Sam collapsed in a small fit of giggles as she watched her husband floundering to understand what she was hinting at. Giving up on him being able to 'get it', she took the hand that still held his and pressed it to her stomach where their child was now growing.

Understanding shot through Jack's eyes as a smile began to form on his face, but he pushed it down, wanting to be sure that he understood her before he went any farther. "Sam," he asked, "Are you trying to tell me what I think you're trying to tell me?"

"Depends," she answered, not wanting to make things easy on him, "On what you think I'm trying to tell you."

"Sam," he plainly stated, "If you're joking now would be the time to tell me."

Sam looked into Jack's eyes and saw the amount of love there. Love for her and love for their unborn child and she came right out and said it. "Jack, we did the impossible. I'm pregnant."

Sam was pretty sure that the excited scream Jack let out could be heard by Thor in orbit as he enveloped her in a bone crushing hug. Before pulling back and asking, "Are you sure?"

Sam assured Jack, "Thor was the one who figured it out and he reassures me everything's fine and that the Asgard look forward to the arrival of our daughter in six months time."

"Wow," Jack exclaimed, still shocked at the news Sam had given him.

----

Later that night, Sam lay wrapped protectively in Jack's arms in their makeshift bed when she asked, "So was this a good anniversary present?"

Jack kissed his wife's nose and responded, "The best," as the two drifted off to sleep, dreaming of their future child.


	39. Announcing Baby O'Neill

The next day, Jack had the opportunity to see his daughter courtesy of Thor for the first time. And yes, Thor assured Jack, it was a little girl. Thor explained that he had done the scans and promised Sam and Jack that while the girl had the Ancient gene and could possibly have naquadah in her system, she would be no different from other human children.

Jack stood holding Sam's hand while looking at the holographic image of their little girl, "She's so little," he finally said.

Sam laughed as she squeezed Jack's hand and said, "Thank goodness, I'm not ready to big and fat yet."

Jack turned to look at Sam and said, "To me you will always be beautiful," and pulled her into a hug as Thor beamed the two of them back to their house.

----

The two day vacation had not totally been spent relaxing. Much of the time, Sam and Jack had talked, discussing how and when they would announce to everyone that they would be parents, how they would handle work, and most importantly, how they would explain their addition to their family to Jake.

It was nearing the end of Sam's fourth month, and she was starting to notice how tight some of her clothes were getting, which meant it was time to start telling people about the upcoming addition to their family. That morning she sat with Jack and Jake on the couch in their living room and began their talk with Jake.

"Jake, how would you like a younger sister?" Jack asked his son.

"Really?" Jake claimed, "I would love a baby sister, can we go get her now?"

Jack and Sam traded glances as this was something they really hadn't expected.

"Well Jake, you'll have to wait a few months and she'll be really little when she gets here, but she'll need you to look after her and help her," Sam explained.

"Cool. Can I go play now?" the boy asked, not quite getting the significance of this announcement.

"Sure, but Jake, remember how we talked about keeping secrets? We need you to keep this a secret, alright? You can't tell anyone about it until we tell you, okay?" asked Jack.

"Sure Dad," the boy called as he ran from the room.

Jack threw his arm around Sam and commented, "It's a good thing we're making that announcement tonight, because I'm not sure he understands the idea of keeping this a secret."

Sam just nodded her agreement and relaxed, safe in the arms of her husband.

----

That night, the O'Neill family found themselves at their weekly 'family' dinner. This 'family' dinner was the time during the week when the friends got together. Provided everyone was on planet, the regular attendees included the O'Neill family, the members of SG-1 and their families, the Carter family, Cassie, General Hammond and his family, and General Landry. From time to time the other Generals would stop by along with other SGC personnel, and on occasion, the President was even known to stop by for dessert.

By far though, the favorite guests at the 'family' meals were when Jack brought his new trainees for a meal-without telling them who they would be eating with. The expressions on the trainees' faces when they showed up were considered priceless. Jack considered them SGC material if none of the regular attendees had anything negative to say in the open forum evaluation that occurred after all the trainees left.

Tonight though, the meal was limited to all of the regular attendees only. In between the main course and dessert, Jack and Sam stood up, calling for quiet, as they had an announcement to make.

With his arm wrapped around Sam's shoulder, Jack happily declared, "We thought you guys should be the first to know that in about five months, we'll be adding a member to the O'Neill family."

Jaws hit the floor before Cassie ran squealing up to throw her arms around her aunt and uncle. Applause and cheers broke out through the group, and before the night was through, everyone had congratulated the parents-to-be.

Lying in bed that night unable to sleep, Sam thought about what everyone had to say to them.

//Flashback//

"I knew something was up with all those strange questions you were asking me," claimed Carolyn as she hugged Sam.

"So do I get to be 'Uncle Danny' to this one too?" questioned Daniel, to which Jack replied, "Nah, 'Uncle Spacemonkey' sounds better."

"Your offspring is very lucky to have the two of you as parents," claimed Teal'c.

"Congratulations Sam," offered Mark along with a kiss on the cheek for Sam along with a manly hug for Jack.

But the comment that had made Sam smile the most came from Izzy, who had asked, "Where do babies come from?" Sam had been at a loss for words, but Jack had quickly answered, "I think you need to ask your dad about that one." The glare Mark had sent Jack, had made the whole scene worthwhile.

//End Flashback//

Sam sighed contentedly and Jack reflexively reached out and pulled her closer to him. Eventually sleep overwhelmed Sam's thoughts and she slept soundly next to her husband.

----

The six months leading up to Sam's due date thankfully passed with little incident, in fact the only incident that occurred involved Jake.

//Flashback//

Jack came into his son's room, preparing for their regular night time routine, and found Jake sitting on his bed crying.

Rather than asking what was wrong, Jack just pulled his son into his arms, rubbing his back. Sam sat down next to Jack, adding her hands to Jack's.

Eventually Jake's tears subsided and Jack asked, "What's wrong Jake?"

Jake's response was totally unexpected by Jack, "I don't want a baby brother or baby sister."

Sam though, just relaxed, almost to the point that she had been expecting this. "Why not Jake?" she asked.

"'Cause then you won't want me anymore," claimed the little boy.

"Why won't we want you," questioned a thoroughly confused Jack.

The little boy had no problem declaring, "'Cause your not my real parents and you won't love me anymore," before dissolving into tears again.

Suddenly it dawned on Jack just what his son was worried about. "Jake, we may not be your real parents, but we will always consider you our first child," he said.

"There's no possible way that we could love you any more than we do right now. Having another child won't make us love you any less," Sam reassured.

"Promise?" the boy questioned, not quite believing his parents.

"Promise," they both claimed as Sam leaned in to kiss the boy's cheek.

"Are you ready for bed?" asked Jack, "Because we have a special story to tell you tonight."

The boy nodded and leaped off the bed so that he could crawl under the covers.

Jack and Sam sat on either side of him, as Jack began to tell a story about the day they had brought Jacob Charles O'Neill home.

//End Flashback//

Sam realized that her and Jack had handled that situation pretty well. As the weeks had passed, Jake had gotten more and more excited about meeting his new sister. He had been a great 'helper' in readying the nursery for the new addition to the family.

Even now as Sam sat in the rocking chair in that room, Sam realized how lucky she was. She had returned from work one day to find the baby's room fully decorated and all the necessary furniture in place. Despite knowing that they were having a girl, a fact they hadn't mentioned to anyone else yet, Sam had refused to do the room in pinks and purples, much to Jack's dismay, although, Jack had gotten over it pretty quickly when she suggested an astronomy theme for the room.

Now everyone was just awaiting the arrival of the newest member of the O'Neill family to the point that Thor was sitting in orbit waiting for the announcement to come so that he could go greet the newest O'Neill child.

Needless to say, when Sam finally went into labor, the waiting room was quickly filled to capacity as everyone waited word on the arrival of baby O'Neill.


	40. Life with Baby O'Neill

It ended up being a six hour wait and it was 0300 hours before a now visibly pregnant Dr. Carolyn Lam walked out of the delivery room to declare to all, "General Carter and Baby O'Neill are all doing fine. She said that everyone could go in but, it's going to have to be a quick visit because both Generals and the baby are tired and need some rest."

Before anyone could stop them, Jake and Izzy were running into the room, only to be stopped in the doorway by the sight. Perched on the bed next to his wife was Jack O'Neill grinning like a mad man watching his wife hold a small bundle wrapped in a white blanket in her arms. Hearing the racket, he slowly moved off the bed and hurried to the door to pick up his son and grab Izzy's hand. Leading them to the bed, he placed Jake on one knee lap so that he could see his new sibling before reaching down and pulling Izzy up to perch on his other knee so that she could see her new cousin. Quietly the others entered the room, all wanting to see the new baby.

"Was I ever that small," Jake finally asked.

Hushed laughter could be heard around the room as Jack reassured Jake, that indeed, he had been that small.

Finally, Daniel spoke up, "So Jack are you going to introduce me to my newest niece or nephew or are we just going to refer to it as 'Baby O'Neill' for the rest of its life?"

Jack shot Daniel a mock glare before looking to his wife who offered him a small nod as she handed the little girl over to him. Glancing at the sleeping form in arms, he finally announced, "Everyone, meet Grace Janet O'Neill."

Cries of "Awe" went up from some of the women, while others, who knew the significance behind the child's middle name became teary eyed, especially as the little girl was passed around the room, proceeding from honorary Aunts and Uncles to the two honorary Grandfathers, before the child made her way into the arms of President Henry Hayes and then again into the arms of her father.

While the smallest alien in the room had blinked his big black eyes at the little girl, the normally reserved Thor had declared, "Young Grace O'Neill carries the best traits of both parents and is one step closer to that O'Neill to solving the Asgard cloning problem. She is everything that we had hoped for General Carter. Thank you for allowing me to take part in this celebration."

"You never know Thor, if Grace got the Carter intelligence she may have some 'stupid' idea which helps you solve your cloning problem during her lifetime," Jack offered.

Thor just nodded and beamed away.

Realizing that the baby passing was finished, Carolyn began to shoo everyone from the room, declaring that all needed their sleep. Jack looked down at his wife who had fallen asleep, exhausted from giving birth, with a smile on her face, and he realized when he glanced at the little girl in his arms just how lucky he was.

----

It was during their first week home when Sam woke up alone in their bed. With a knowing smile, Sam rose from the bed and crept down the hall to find her husband in Grace's room. There he sat in the rocking chair, holding their daughter, and softly singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

Sam smiled at the sight and went to stand next to her husband as Jack maneuvered Grace so that Sam could sit in his lap and together they both held Grace. It was only when Sam was settled that she noticed Grace was already sleeping, which meant Jack had just wanted to spend some time with his daughter.

Sam just smiled and snuggled closer into her husband's arms, resting her head against his chest as they both watched their daughter sleep peacefully.

----

Watching Grace became Jack's second favorite thing to do, the first, or course, was still watching Sam. When Sam returned to work, Grace went with her in the mornings to the lab and most afternoons were spent with Jack as he taught class to the new trainees.

At first the trainees found it strange that their commander brought a baby to class, but they quickly learned that having said baby around made their commander a much happier man.

Usually Grace traded parents during lunch time and the threesome could often be found eating with Jake and whichever other 'honorary' family member could join them.

As Grace and Jake grew older, the family lunches became a tradition, although they dwindled down to only occurring one or two days a week as Sam and Jack found themselves busy with their military duties.

----

Before Grace turned five, Cassie requested a 'family' dinner, specifying that family meant the original members of SG-1 because she had someone that she wanted them to meet. While Teal'c, Daniel, and Jack wondered what she could want, Sam had a fairly good idea.

When Cassie walked through the door that night holding the hand of a very frightened young Air Force officer, hugs were exchanged with Cassie and awkward handshakes with the young man. Cassie introduced him as Lieutenant Ryan Jacobs.

After the meal was over, Cassie and Ryan stood in front of the group and announced they were engaged, much to the surprise of everyone present. Congratulations were offered up as Ryan found himself being separated from Cassie for an interrogation like he had never faced before.

Sam took the fact that he returned later, without a visible scratch on him, that things had went well.

All of this is what led to a small backyard wedding several weeks later as the three men, formerly of the original SG-1 walked Cassandra Frasier down the aisle to a very anxious Lt. Ryan Jacobs.

Short engagements had become a normal thing after Sam and Jack's three day engagement. Some said it was because no one wanted to wait to have their special day, others claimed it was because of the lack of a wait for a marriage license and the small amount of work that had to go into the ceremonies as Asgard technology made it possible for almost anything imaginable to be created in a matter of seconds.

But it was Sam who explained it best when she told Jack that quick weddings were the new fad because "Everything's changed so that you don't have to hide what you have with someone anymore. Everyone is free to date and marry whomever they chose and when they make the decision to get married, it doesn't take much more than a few hours to send a message to anyone that you could want there to witness it. A wedding isn't measured by how grand it is, but by how many people that you care about show up."

"It's all about the love between two people," Jack had responded, "Just like it's supposed to be," right before he captured his wife's lips in a kiss.


	41. The End

Right before Grace's tenth birthday, Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill announced that he was stepping down from his duties as the head of the SGC training program and that Ferretti, his long time second in command, would be his replacement. At the same time, Sam was promoted to Major General and announced that she would be appointing another scientist for her position on the SGC training program staff to concentrate solely on her position as the head of the Science Technology department.

No one was surprised by Jack's news; after all, he was getting older, even if he was only a step or two behind the trainees.

----

The proudest moment of both Jack and Sam's lives came many years later, on Jake's 20th birthday. Together, they pinned his Lieutenant insignia, one of each of their old pins, on the shoulders of his uniform and threw him his first salute.

----

A few years later, they were both enjoying an early morning sunrise, sitting on the back porch when a young Airman came running, delivering the news that General Hammond had passed in his sleep the previous evening.

The sad look on Jack's face as they buried the great man was almost as if he realized that this was the beginning of the end. But there were a few more things that he had to do before that could happen.

The first was standing besides his son, watching him marry the love of his life, a young girl whose maiden name was Ferretti, much to the ribbing of both fathers. But even Jack had to agree, under much prodding and forced discussion with Sam that she was a perfect match for their son. The fact that she was the daughter of one of their closest and oldest friends just made things that much better.

The second was to be there as Jake and his wife announced the upcoming birth of their child. Jack had never thought that he would have a grandchild, let alone live to see one. After that announcement, Jack had walked around with a grin reminiscent of when Sam had been pregnant.

The third was to celebrate his 15th wedding anniversary with his wife. The huge celebration was attended by all, much as their wedding had been. But this time, Sam and Jack spent their time surrounded by their friends and family, ignoring the extra guests.

The fourth involved walking his baby girl down the aisle as she became a member of the Mitchell family. Grace's relationship with the Cam's oldest son had been close from the first days of their lives. The two had grown up as best friends. So when as teenagers, they had started dating, both sets of parents had been worried that a problem might cause the end of a good friendship. Instead, the two children had grown closer to the point that Jack had been calling the boy 'son' for several years before he made his intentions to marry Grace known.

The fifth was to hold his first grandchild in his arms as Sam stood beside him, waiting for her turn at holding Laura Samantha O'Neill. The little girl became the apple of 'Grandpa Jack's eye. She never went to a babysitter or a nursery as Jack reveled in taking care of her. Laura became his constant companion as Jack had the opportunity to have little Laura all to himself. When Sam announced her retirement a few months after Laura's birth Jack jokingly accused her that she was jealous of the amount of time he got to spend with their granddaughter. To which Sam insisted that it was really because the small amount of work that Jack was expected to keep up with, wasn't getting done and the command staff had 'encouraged' her to retire so that she could 'convince' her husband to let her watch the baby and go to work. Jack had just chuckled as held Laura a little closer.

The sixth was laying longtime President Henry Hayes to rest; just a few days after 'Uncle Henry' and 'Uncle Jack' had walked Izzy down the aisle in lieu of Mark Carter who had died a few years prior. Hayes had slowly become part of the family over the years, even as he had headed the democratic government of 'New Earth' up until the day of his death. The honest, hardworking man had wanted to give up the Presidency at the end of first term on the planet, but had been re-elected when every other candidate had withdrawn their candidacy. A firm supporter of the military and a willing friend to their alien allies, Hayes was, in Jack's eyes, the biggest reason that things on 'New Earth' had went so well.

The seventh was the joy he experienced when Grace and her husband told everyone at a special 'family' dinner that they were expecting a child. Sam had turned to her husband and demanded, "You owe me five bucks." Jack had the sense to look slightly embarrassed as his daughter shot him a glare. "What? I figured if I was right, I got five buck and if I was wrong, I got a new grandchild. It was a win-win situation," he declared, which resulted in groans and laughter from all those present.

The eight was being introduced to his first grandson, Jack Cameron Mitchell, or J.C., as Jack insisted on calling him, much to the joy of both sets of grandparents. The announcement of the child's name had been greeted with tears from both of the grandfathers. Cam had made Brigadier General after Jack's retirement, taking over as Ferretti's co-commander in the recruit training program. Jack had made the recommendation himself, and was pleased that the command staff had chosen to follow it. Sam and Jack had been beamed away by Thor in the middle of Sam's promotion to Lieutenant General in order to see their new grandson. Never before had the couple been so happy with the alien for his intrusion.

The ninth was celebrating his 20th anniversary in a party of only the closest family and friends. Of course, that ended up being almost 200 people as Jake, Grace, Izzy, and Cassie joined forces to plan and make the party happen. The date had been set aside several months in advance and the party was the talk of the town. The celebration had lasted from early afternoon until the wee hours of the morning as each of those invited had shared their personal remembrances of Sam and Jack. The group had shared laughter and tears as each person recounted a different memory through careful planning on Cassie's part. It was one of the best days Jack's life as all of those close to him and Sam shared just how much they appreciated, cared for, and loved them. Jack had never shed so many happy tears in his life.

The tenth and final thing Jack did though was whisper the words, "I love you" to his wife one last time before he drifted off to sleep for the very last time.

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Author's note: Well that's it guys, if there's something else that you want, let me know. Otherwise, I think that this is the whole story. Thanks so much to those of you who read, and a special thanks to all of you who reviewed!


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